Pearl Harbor Day
by forensicsfan
Summary: COMPLETE If you're not reading this story, you're missing out. Two of our favorite CSIs, Sara and Nick, investigate this strange case where a Pearl Harbor survivor and his granddaughter are found dead. Will they find something else in the process?
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: As much as I would love to be the one responsible for creating the wonderful characters of CSI, it's just not so. I don't own them, I think the only ones who truly own them are the actors we all love that bring them to life. I don't profit from them for writing my stories, but I certainly hope you enjoy them.  
  
Author's Note: I have several thank yous to make for this particular story. First of all, I want to thank anyone and everyone who has ever served in our military or police force. You have my utmost respect and gratitude for the job you do on a daily basis, putting your lives on the line to defend our liberty and freedom. Thank you.  
  
To Brianna, thanks for reading all of the chapters and giving me your input. It is greatly appreciated.  
  
To all my readers. Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read my stories. I hope you enjoy them and welcome your reviews.  
  
A special thank you to George Eads and Jorja Fox. Without them playing the roles of Nick Stokes and Sara Sidle, CSI just wouldn't be the same.  
  
This story is written from Sara's point of view.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
It was definitely one of the strangest cases I'd worked on since I moved to Vegas. Of course, strange cases seemed to be the order of the day, or rather night as it were since I work the night shift. In some twisted way, I'd like to say that nothing surprises me anymore, but at my age, I think that would make me far too jaded, and besides, like I said, this is Vegas and surprises are always around the corner.  
  
It started out like most shifts lately. I arrived an hour or so early to try and catch up on a little paperwork; did my best to avoid Grissom, which seemed to be much easier after he'd turned down my dinner invitation shortly after the lab explosion several months ago; and then got myself a cup of coffee as assignments were handed out. More often than not, I got to either work solo or I got to work with Nick. For whatever reason, we both seemed to be on Grissom's list, and he always seemed to make sure he worked with Catherine or Warrick or both. That was fine with me. I'm a damn fine CSI and so is Nick, and besides, he's a hell of a lot more fun to work with than Grissom has been lately.  
  
Anyway, shift had been rather slow for the most part and towards three in the morning, Nick and I got sent out to a home a bit removed from the suburbs to investigate a suspicious death. As we pulled up the driveway of this ranch-styled rambler in the middle of a generous acre which appeared to be dotted with dead or nearly dead vegetation, I noticed that there was a department issued dark colored Taurus in front of the house. Sergeant O'Reilly was already there waiting for us and I hoped somewhere in the back of my mind that this wouldn't take very long because I wanted to get home and go to sleep. I'd already pulled three double shifts that week by the time Nick and I got the call and I was tired.  
  
The moment we walked into the house, I looked at Nick. He had turned to look at me and without saying a word, we both knew that we would be pulling a double shift.  
  
At first glance, we could tell that this was the home of a World War II veteran; more specifically, a Pearl Harbor survivor. That's why the call coming on this day of all days was eerily strange. The date was Sunday, December 7, 2003, the 62nd anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor.  
  
I looked at O'Reilly.  
  
"Mr. Williams called 911 to report a medical emergency related to his granddaughter, by the time paramedics arrived, he was deceased. They believe he had a heart attack." O'Reilly explained.  
  
Nick glanced at me and then pressed O'Reilly for a little more information. "If he just had a heart attack, why did you call us?"  
  
"The emergency he reported involved his granddaughter, a Chelsea Smith. We found a woman that we believe is the woman in question in the back bedroom." The detective gave Nick and I a long stare. "Be prepared, this is ugly."  
  
We followed O'Reilly, who grimaced as he entered the back bedroom of the small house. As much as I've seen ugly things in my career as a CSI, nothing could have quite prepared me for this site.  
  
An obviously pregnant woman in her mid-thirties lay on her side on the floor. She was fully clothed, yet it was obvious that she had some sort of chemical burn over a major portion of her body, and there was a chemical odor in the air as a liquid pooled on the floor around the victim. Nick and I immediately pulled O'Reilly out of the room.  
  
"We're going to need hazmat gear to process this room." Nick began explaining to O'Reilly as I pulled out my cell phone and called Grissom to let him know we might need a little more manpower than Nick or I could offer. I shifted into professional mode as we moved outside to wait for the rest of the crew. If I allowed myself an ounce of feeling for the victim, I knew I would lose it. Something I had been doing more often than not lately.  
  
Within the hour, the entire CSI night shift crew was at the rambler. We photographed the body and then Doc Robbins removed the body and we began to collect evidence and photograph the rest of the scene wearing respirators and hazmat suits. Nick and I worked the back bedroom while Catherine and Warrick worked the living room where Mr. Williams was found. Grissom began working the scene as only Grissom can. He wandered from room to room, taking in minute details as he took notes. Each of us brought something different to this job and when you put all those pieces together, it became a well oiled machine that was the reason we were the number two crime lab in the country.  
  
After we had processed the entire house, we made our way back to the lab to begin processing the evidence we had collected.  
  
Grissom finally sent us all home at noon, knowing that we'd all be back in early picking up where we left off. I was fairly certain that when we all returned, he would still be there, wearing the same clothes he'd been in when we left.  
  
When I got home, I was so exhausted that I didn't even bother to undress. I simply crawled onto my bed and pulled the comforter over me, falling asleep almost immediately. 


	2. Chapter 2

I made my way into the lab a good three hours before shift was scheduled to start. It was no surprise to me when I walked into the break room to get a cup of coffee that Nick was already there. A couple of years ago it might have surprised me to see him in that early, but I'd noticed a change in him since he had been a suspect in his friend Kristy Hopkins' murder. Before that, I used to tease him about his flavor of the month, but after that he didn't seem to date much. Oh, sure, he'd still go out with his buddies and he and Warrick had actually convinced me to go out with them a handful of times, but the thing I noticed was that even though these girls would hit on him, he just didn't seem that interested. I asked him about it once, and he'd told me that Kristy's death had caused him to take a look at where his life was going. He wanted something that was going to last a little longer than the relationships, if you could call them that, he had in the past. He wanted something special and realized he wasn't going to find it in a bar. So he'd thrown himself into work. He worked nearly as much overtime as I did on a regular basis.  
  
"Hey, Sidle, you're here early." Nick chided me with a grin.  
  
I laughed at him and just shook my head. "You're one to talk, Stokes."  
  
Working with Nick was easy. With Grissom, I was always trying to prove myself. With Catherine, well, we had just gotten off on the wrong foot when I first arrived in Vegas, and we'd had a few rough patches. Warrick, well, I came here to investigate Warrick; things between he and I could be described as a mutual respect, with a hint of suspicion, but I think we'd finally become friends. Nick though, we hit it off right away and in the midst of all of our flirting, we became fast friends.  
  
We made our way down the hall, coffee in hand, to find Greg Sanders and see if he'd had any success with any of the samples we'd left with him.  
  
He was a bit bleary eyed, and hunched over a scope as we walked in. As I sipped my coffee, I realized that it actually tasted good, meaning that Greg had most likely not gone home when the rest of us had.  
  
"Greg, how long have you been here?" I queried him.  
  
He glanced up at me and smiled a little too big. "Well, Sara, thanks for asking. I've been working day and night on your case." It was no secret that Greg had a crush on me. At first I'd found it slightly annoying, but as I had gotten to know him, I had found it a bit more endearing, even though I still wasn't interested in him.  
  
"Sanders, do you have anything for us?" Nick sounded slightly amused and at the same time a little annoyed at Greg.  
  
Greg smiled at Nick. "You know how I like to make a presentation." Greg held the test results in his hand.  
  
Nick grabbed them before heading out the door. "Sorry, man, but this case is priority one and we've all already logged too much overtime."  
  
I glanced at Greg sympathetically and went after Nick. "Nick." I'm sure my tone was a little too sugary.  
  
Nick slowed down, but didn't stop as he headed down the hall. "Yeah?" He sounded a bit distracted as he read the lab report.  
  
"You didn't need to be so short with Greg you know." I was just as anxious as he was to know the results of the tests, but didn't think it merited being impatient with our best lab tech.  
  
Nick stopped and turned toward me. "Sara, that's the third time I've been in there since I got here."  
  
"Ok, didn't know." I raised a curious eyebrow at his irritated tone.  
  
Nick let out a deep breath and put a hand on my shoulder. "Sorry, Sar. I just couldn't sleep so I came back in about two hours after I left."  
  
"You wanna talk?" It wasn't like Nick to lose sleep over a case. That was something I seemed to have cornered the market on.  
  
He let out a deep breath and nodded silently and we made our way back to the break room to finish our coffee and look over the test results. "There is just something about this that doesn't set well. I'm not sure what it is, but my gut is telling me that we might have missed something." He handed me the lab report.  
  
What I read was disturbing. "Hydrochloric acid?" I glanced up at Nick. "A burn over four percent of your body with this can be fatal, not to mention what it will do to your lungs and circulatory system by inhaling the fumes."  
  
Nick nodded. "Yeah, and she had burns over much more than four percent of her body."  
  
"Thirty-five percent to be exact." Grissom stood in the doorway of the break room.  
  
Nick and I both turned our attention to our supervisor.  
  
"That was most likely the cause of death, but it doesn't explain why she just lay there. The burn pattern on her body suggests that she was prone when she was burned, but there are no ligature marks." Grissom continued.  
  
I let out a curse under my breath.  
  
Nick glanced at me with his brows knit together. "You can say that again."  
  
"There's something else. Doc Robbins thinks she was in labor when she died." Grissom's voice was soft.  
  
Nick let out a stream of curses and hit the table with his fist.  
  
"Nicky." Grissom's tone was filled with concern.  
  
Nick cursed again. "I need some air." He got up from the table and walked purposely down the hall toward the front door.  
  
I glanced at Grissom and he just nodded at me. I handed him the lab report and followed Nick outside, finding him leaning up against his Denali fighting back tears. 


	3. Chapter 3

"Nick, you can't let it get to you." I hoped my voice was gentle.  
  
Nick just looked at me with a hint of disbelief. "You're one to talk, Sara." A tear slid down his cheek and he wiped it away with the back of his hand.  
  
"I know." I'm not particularly comfortable admitting my own weaknesses, but he was right, I'd been falling apart on a regular basis lately, and he'd been witness to quite a bit of it.  
  
He looked at me apologetically. "I'm sorry, Sara." He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and tried to put on a brave face. "It just pisses me off when a kid doesn't get the chance to grow up. What kind of sick bastard does this kind of thing to a pregnant woman?"  
  
I could feel my own courage failing. I steeled myself against the emotions that threatened to spill to the surface. "That's why we do what we do, Nick. You know that. We've got to figure this out and find out who did this to her, to them."  
  
"I don't think it was the grandfather." Nick began to sink back into work mode.  
  
"I agree." I didn't see how a decorated war veteran could do something as horrendous as this.  
  
We had discovered a bit about Mr. Alexander Williams as we went through the house. He had entered the Navy in 1940 at age 18 against the wishes of his family. But he wanted to see the world and wanted to get out of Iowa. He was stationed in Pearl Harbor aboard the USS Arizona. The morning of December 7, 1941, he had been on shore leave, the second day of a three day pass. By the time he'd heard the attack begin and tried to make his way back to the ship, it was already sinking in the harbor. So he'd watched in horror at the carnage before him, not able to do anything to help his shipmates. He went on to serve in the Pacific theater for the rest of the war, finally retiring from the Navy in 1963, having attained the rank of Commander.  
  
His granddaughter had come to stay with him six months previously after her husband, a naval officer, had shipped out aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln for the Persian Gulf. He had been notified and was scheduled to fly back to Vegas within the next seventy-two hours. In the meantime, the CSIs hoped to discover as much as they could about their victim and how she came to be in the circumstances they found her in.  
  
I regarded Nick thoughtfully for a moment. "Do you want to go back out to the scene?"  
  
There was a hint of a serious smile that flickered across Nick's face. "Yeah."  
  
"Let's go get our gear and let Grissom know." I suggested as I moved to go back into the building.  
  
Nick fell in step behind me and we informed Grissom of our intentions before heading to the locker room to collect our gear. Neither of us spoke much as we drove back out to the crime scene. Stepping under the tape, we broke the seal on the door and began to give the house another once over.  
  
We headed straight back to the bedroom the woman had been found in and got down on our hands and knees with our mini maglites looking for any miniscule trace evidence that we might have missed. Fortunately, the chemical that had been on the floor had been cleaned up sufficiently to not pose a health threat any longer. I was about ready to give up when Nick let out a curse under his breath. "Son of a bitch."  
  
My eyebrows immediately shot up and I glanced at him. "What do you have?"  
  
In a pair of tweezers, Nick held up a small bright pink disk approximately a quarter of an inch in diameter. "It's from a tazer cartridge."  
  
I handed Nick a bindle so he could put the evidence into it. "That might explain how she was restrained."  
  
"We should have Doc Robbins look for any small puncture wounds on her skin, the barbs on the darts that come out of those things are about a quarter of an inch long." Nick recounted. He studied me. "You've been tazed haven't you, Sara?"  
  
I nodded. "Part of the requirement to get through the academy. Hurts like hell. I'm just glad they don't actually shoot us with the damn things in training. I hurts enough just having it taped to your skin. I don't understand how anyone can be shot with one of those things and not give up."  
  
Nick nodded. "Drugs alter things a bit though. When I was still working as an officer in Dallas, I remember one suspect we had to taze three times. He was high as a kite and couldn't feel a thing."  
  
I just shook my head and then froze. My head popped up and I glanced at Nick. "Do you think that's why the grandfather had a heart attack?"  
  
Nick shook his head. "It's unlikely. The voltage is pretty high on these things. 50,000 volts, but the wattage is extremely low and it's the wattage that can be deadly. It's even lower than what a pacemaker is. It might have triggered her going into labor, since it can cause muscles to contract, but I doubt that was the reason for his heart attack, but we can have Doc Robbins check him for any small puncture wounds."  
  
I nodded. "I'm going to go check the area Mr. Williams was found anyway, just to be on the safe side." I went out to the living room where he had been found and began searching the chair, the floor, under the area rug, and under the couch for any evidence that he had been shot with a tazer gun.  
  
A few moments later, Nick returned to the living room. "Find anything?"  
  
I glanced up and shook my head. "Nothing. He probably had a heart attack from the shock of finding his granddaughter like that."  
  
Nick nodded. "He was about 80 years old. That a hell of a thing to have to see, even after witnessing Pearl Harbor."  
  
I nodded silently. "Want to head back to the lab?"  
  
Nick smiled at me. "Yeah."  
  
As we drove back, I glanced over at my friend. I was glad he and I were working this case. We didn't have to talk much to communicate and sometimes, that was best. Cases could affect you and Nick was pretty sensitive. Whether I wanted to admit it most of the time, Nick could read me like a book and knew when I needed to step back. He wasn't arrogant about it though, and I appreciated that. I think that's probably why he could say things to me that most people couldn't and get by with it. And that's probably why he let me say things to him. I knew we'd get to the bottom of this case and I knew that neither of us would be willing to quit until we'd exhausted every option.  
  
We pulled into the parking lot and walked into the building, stopping by to check in this new piece of evidence before striding into the break room where the rest of the team was waiting for assignments. Shift was about to begin and it was going to be a long night. 


	4. Chapter 4

While I reviewed information about hydrochloric acid and what kind of people might have access to it on a regular basis, Nick did a trace of the disc from the tazer. It wasn't really a surprise to have the cartridge traced back to the LVMPD, or that it had been reported stolen along with three other cartridges and a tazer gun. But at least that told us something.  
  
Each cartridge spewed out a random amount of those discs as it was shot; somewhere between twenty and forty. Each disc had the serial number of the cartridge that it came from and the manufacturer of the cartridge was require by law to record who each one was sold to. Each tazer gun also recorded how many times it had been fired and for how long. The standard length of time a suspect would be tazed was approximately five seconds. As part of the training we went through, each police officer and each CSI was required to be tazed for approximately a half of a second. Plenty of time to feel pain, and let me tell you, half a second was enough for a lifetime.  
  
Because we had only found one disc from the cartridge, we assumed the suspect we were looking for had at least some background in law enforcement or knowledge of tazers in general. The average criminal wouldn't know that the discs could be traced that precisely to bother collecting them, especially with the danger of being exposed to hydrochloric acid, which led us to believe they knew enough about chemicals that they probably wore personal protective equipment, explaining why we didn't find any prints at the scene.  
  
Doc Robbins did in fact find two small puncture marks on Chelsea Smith's body. The distance between the marks suggested that the tazer had been fired at her from about ten feet away. This was the approximate distance between where the vic had lay and where Nick had found the disc. He also indicated that while the hydrochloric acid had burned thirty-five percent of her body, that it was more than likely that the fumes from it had actually asphyxiated her due to glottic edema. Her death ensured the death of her baby, which was far enough along to have survived if help had been summoned in time; this pretty much cleared the now deceased Mr. Williams from any suspicion in her death. It also gave us even more clues about the killer. Whoever it was knew about chemicals and had access to hydrochloric acid. Many industries used them, but in the Vegas area it was most likely someone who worked in the production of fertilizer or metal salvage or a similar industry.  
  
I kept playing different scenarios out in my mind, wondering what kind of monster we were dealing with that would kill a pregnant woman and her child in such a painful deliberate manner. A voice interrupted my thoughts as I sat at the table in the break room mulling things over. I glanced up. Nick stood there in the doorway with a forced smile on his face. I could tell this case was getting to him.  
  
"Want to grab a bite to eat?" He suggested. I knew he needed a break from the case, and if truth be told, I needed one too.  
  
I nodded and stood up; replacing the information I'd been going over in a file folder. "Just let me put this back and I'll meet you in the parking lot."  
  
He nodded and turned on his heels without saying a word.  
  
After I'd returned the file, I grabbed my jacket from my locker and headed out to the parking lot to meet Nick. He stood there leaning against his Denali and as soon as he saw me, he climbed into the driver's seat. I climbed into the passenger's seat and glanced at him with a bit of concern on my face as we threaded our way through a few side streets to the diner that was a department favorite.  
  
We slipped into the booth, still not having said a word to each other since the break room. The waitress came over smiling and we both nodded when she asked if we would be having our usual orders.  
  
I studied Nick for a moment before speaking. "Nick, are you ok?"  
  
He glanced up at me a bit distractedly. "I'm sorry, I just needed a break."  
  
I wrinkled my brow thoughtfully. "This case seems to be getting to you. You mind telling me why?"  
  
"And it's not getting to you?" Nick replied a little too harshly. He was right, it was getting to me, but I could handle me most of the time, what I couldn't handle is if steady-as-a-rock Nick Stokes fell apart on me when I was about to lose it myself.  
  
I let out a deep breath. "It is, but you don't usually seem so affected. I'm worried." I hoped he knew that I was sincere and that I wasn't judging his ability to do the job.  
  
He nodded and glanced down at the table for a moment before looking back up at me. "My grandfather was on the USS Arizona, Sar."  
  
My mouth formed a silent 'O'. I didn't know what to say.  
  
"He was lucky, he only lost a leg. Not that he'd tell you he was lucky. When I got older, he told me that he would have traded places with almost anyone that died that day. Survivor's guilt." Nick explained. I knew that his grandfather had passed away last year and it had been difficult for him.  
  
I nodded. Not that Nick knew, but I knew firsthand what it was like to experience survivor's guilt. Not that anyone knew. I'd never shared my darkest secret with anyone in Vegas.  
  
"It just pisses me off that someone who has already lived through hell on earth, has to go through something like this." Nick continued.  
  
I just studied him and let him talk.  
  
"Sara, did you know that the Arizona sank in nine minutes?" Nick's voice sounded pained.  
  
I nodded then shook my head, again not really sure what to say.  
  
"Then that baby. It didn't even have a chance." A tear slid down Nick's cheek.  
  
I reached across the table and took Nick's hand, giving it a squeeze. I had never seen my strong friend from Texas so upset. I'd seen him shell shocked before, right after Nigel Crane had stalked him, but even then, I hadn't seen him cry; even though I was sure he had.  
  
The waitress looked at us quizzically as she brought our order. I glanced at her and tried to smile. "Can you wrap those up to go?"  
  
She nodded at me silently and glanced at Nick with concern. A few moments later, she brought them back to us wrapped up and ready to go and we got up and left the diner, leaving more than enough to cover our meals and a tip on the table behind us. I wasn't really sure where we were going, but after driving a short distance, Nick pulled into the parking lot of a park along a man made lake.  
  
He glanced over at me and tried to smile as another tear slid down his face. "Thanks."  
  
"No problem. That's what friends are for." I just sat there, unsure of what to do. Nick had been a rock of a friend and here he was falling apart in the middle of a case that I was doing all I could to keep it together emotionally.  
  
He glanced over at me and gave me an apologetic look through the tears that continued to spill down his face. "I'm sorry, Sara."  
  
I knit my brows together and reached over and placed my hand on his arm. "Nick, you don't need to apologize."  
  
"We're supposed to remain objective and professional." He sounded like he was trying to convince himself.  
  
"Nick, you're human." I tried to reassure him.  
  
He swore under his breath. I could tell that he was frustrated that not only was he falling apart, but here I was witnessing it. I took my seatbelt off and reached between us and flipped up the console on the front seat. I scooted over and did the only thing I could think of. The thing I would want if I were in his shoes. I put my arms around him and hugged him.  
  
My rock of a friend fell apart on my shoulder and I just made shushing noises as sobs choked his body. When they finally subsided, whispered to him tentatively. "What's going on, Nick?"  
  
Nick chuckled nervously as he pulled away from me and wiped his tear stained face with the back of his hands. "I guess I owe you an explanation after a display like that."  
  
I shook my head, but I'm sure that concern was evident on my face. "You don't have to tell me anything, Nick, but you are my friend and I care about you. You can trust me."  
  
He smiled at me. It was a genuine smile. "I know, Sara. I'm just embarrassed to be losing it like this in front of you."  
  
"Oh, and I've never done the same in front of you." I hoped he picked up on the sarcasm in my voice as I attempted to lighten the mood in the Denali. I tried to restrain my smile as I studied him.  
  
He started to chuckle. "Ok, point taken. I figure I've got at least a dozen more of these to go before we're even."  
  
I laughed in spite of myself and could feel my face flushing. I hated it when I fell apart emotionally, and I hated the fact that Nick seemed to be there every time it happened. Not that he ever told anyone, or was anything less than supportive. But I was Sara Sidle, and I was strong. I didn't like having my weaknesses exposed to anyone. It was safer that way. Still, here was one of my closest friends relaying those same feelings of not wanting his weakness exposed and I understood exactly how he felt, even if for different reasons.  
  
I scooted back over to my side of the front seat to give Nick his space. He smiled at me and reached for my hand, giving it a squeeze. "Thanks."  
  
I just smiled at him and let go of his hand after squeezing it in return.  
  
"I want to explain though. I want you to tell me if you think I'm over my head on this one." Nick was heading into territory I was unfamiliar with. He was volunteering to be limited on a case; something that I would never do. I would just go full throttle ahead and only back off if I was forced to.  
  
I just nodded at him, not sure of what to say.  
  
He looked at me intently. "My grandfather is only part of the story, Sara."  
  
He had my attention.  
  
"I think seeing that woman Chelsea like that reminded me of Kristy Hopkins, I mean her death was so senseless, not that any murder makes sense, but I just don't understand the mind of a man that could do that." Nick began to explain, an earnest expression on his face.  
  
The more I thought about the victim, I realized that she did bear a striking resemblance to Kristy. "I guess I didn't realize that she looked so much like her until just now." I hoped he knew I was trying to be sympathetic.  
  
He glanced at me, his brows deeply furrowed. "And that baby. Damn that just makes me angry."  
  
Nick had always been deeply affected by crimes against children, probably more than any of us except maybe Catherine. I had never asked him why, but maybe I should have. "Nick, can I ask you something?"  
  
He nodded at me; I think he could tell what I wanted to ask him.  
  
"Why do crimes against children affect you so much? Was someone you knew hurt?" I queried him, hoping that he wouldn't be offended at me asking.  
  
He was quiet for a few moments. His face reflected an inner turmoil. Finally, he turned and faced me. "I was hurt, Sara. I was the victim. When I was nine, I was molested by a babysitter. That's why I have such a hard time when I see victims who are kids. I know the hell they're going through firsthand."  
  
My face fell. I hadn't expected this. I hadn't even considered this. I knew that Nick had been a victim; a victim of Nigel Crane stalking him, of threatening to kill him, but I had no idea he'd been victimized as a child by someone he should have been able to trust. I couldn't find my voice for a few moments and then I reached for his hand, squeezing it. "I'm so sorry." My voice was barely a whisper.  
  
"It's not your fault, its part of who I am. I can't change that." He sounded much more accepting of what had happened to him than I thought anyone could be.  
  
"I'm still sorry, Nick." I truly was. I was angry too, angry that someone would rob the innocence of my dear friend, that someone would do something so unspeakable to him.  
  
Silence prevailed in the Denali for a few moments. Nick gave my hand a squeeze, I hadn't realized I hadn't let go of it, before releasing it. "We should head back."  
  
I nodded. I was deep in thought and before I knew it, we were back in front of the lab, pulling into the parking lot. I looked over at Nick with a serious expression on my face. "Nick, I won't tell anyone what you told me."  
  
"I know." He trusted me. I could tell that.  
  
"You need to work this case. No one understands better than a victim." With that I descended from the vehicle and headed inside, but not before noticing the expression on his face as he studied me; an expression that told me that he knew I had a secret too.  
  
At that moment, more than anything, I just wanted to be alone. 


	5. Chapter 5

I wanted to avoid Nick the rest of shift. I couldn't bear being seen through that clearly at the moment. I had plenty to do with this case, and I made sure that I immersed myself in my task. Grissom interrupted me with a curious expression on his face. "Sara."  
  
I glanced up from the table I was working at realizing for the first time that my eyes were irritatingly dry from staring at the pages of the file in front of me. "Yeah?"  
  
"Doc Robbins just finished the prelim on Mr. Williams." Grissom relayed succinctly. "There is evidence to suggest that he inhaled some of the fumes from the hydrochloric acid when he checked on his granddaughter and that it may have mimicked the symptoms of a heart attack."  
  
I measured my words carefully. "What about puncture wounds?"  
  
Grissom shook his head. "No, it doesn't appear that he was shot with the tazer gun."  
  
I was beginning to get angry.  
  
"Sara." Grissom continued, there was concern on his face and at the moment, I didn't want it, at least from him.  
  
"What?" I steeled my jaw and felt my chin threatening to quiver.  
  
"The husband, a Lieutenant Smith, will be here tomorrow afternoon. Uh, when I informed him that both his wife and child were deceased, he informed me that he wasn't aware that his wife was even pregnant." Grissom had a very Grissom-like expression on his face. "We need to dig a little deeper into Mrs. Smith's life and see if she was seeing someone else."  
  
I think the expression on my face fell and a stream of curses shot forth from my mouth like a rock from a slingshot. I got up from my chair and went in search of Nick, not saying a word to Grissom as I left. I finally located him in the trace lab where he was examining a foreign hair that had been found on the body of the vic.  
  
He glanced up as I entered the room, a flash of concern registering on his face before he smiled. "Hey."  
  
"Hey." There was not even a hint of a smile on my face.  
  
Nick's brow furrowed. "What's up?"  
  
"I need to talk to you." I was pissed off and I hoped that Nick knew it wasn't directed at him. I turned and walked out of the trace lab down the hall toward the front door. Nick was on my heels as I breezed through the entrance to the building. I was all the way to my Denali before I realized that I didn't have my keys. I let out a stream of curses to match the ones I'd let loose a few moments before.  
  
Nick held up his keys and wordlessly we made our way to his Denali. I climbed into the passenger seat and he started up the engine pulling out of the lot as I began to vent. "Dammit, Nick! I hate this. The prelim on Mr. Williams says he inhaled fumes from the hydrochloric acid. He didn't have a heart attack."  
  
Nick swore under his breath.  
  
I laughed bitterly. "Oh, and that's not even the half of it. Grissom said he talked to the husband. Apparently, he didn't even know his wife was pregnant."  
  
Nick looked at me in disbelief. "How can he not know his wife is almost nine months pregnant? Even when they're at sea, they have access to email."  
  
"Maybe she was having an affair. Apparently, nobody believes in being faithful any more." The tone in my voice was clearly irritated.  
  
"That would give us a suspect if the husband isn't the father. We just need to find out who the father of the baby is." Nick continued.  
  
"Oh, hell, that's gonna be easy. Let's just put an announcement on the evening news, whoever screwed our poor victim and then tried to cover it up by killing her, just come on forward, give yourself up! Why the hell can't people be faithful to each other anymore! Dammit!" To emphasize my point I slammed my fist into the dashboard, wincing at how painful it was.  
  
Nick just studied me as I railed. He knew that Hank had used me to cheat on his longtime girlfriend, he knew I had a hard time trusting other people and I think he knew how much I trusted him. "Sara, it may mean we have another suspect though. If we can figure out who the father of the baby is, if it truly isn't the husband, it gives us something else to go on."  
  
I knew he was right, but it pissed me off. I flexed my hand and winced at how much it hurt.  
  
Nick looked at me with concern. "Sara, how's your hand?"  
  
I wrinkled my brow as I looked back at him. "It hurts like hell."  
  
"Can I see it?" He glanced at me as he pulled the Denali over to the side of the road and turned on the dome light.  
  
I nodded and held it out to him. In the light of the vehicle, bruising was already becoming apparent. I winced and swore as Nick looked at it, trying to move it gingerly. He glanced up at me with worry. "I think you might need an X-ray, Sugar Ray Sidle."  
  
In spite of my lack of sports knowledge, I did pick up on the boxing reference he threw at me. "Ok."  
  
I don't know if it was because I agreed so quickly, or because my hand seemed to be swelling before my eyes, but Nick quickly let go of it and pulled the Denali back onto the road, heading toward Desert Palm Hospital. On the way, he kept glancing at me. "You might want to call Grissom and let him know what's going on, that is unless you want me to."  
  
I swore under my breath.  
  
Nick started to chuckle as he teased me. "You're just lucky that the Denali didn't suffer any traumatic injuries."  
  
I would have slugged him for that statement, but thought better of it after the last thing I'd hit. Instead I rolled my eyes. "I'll let you call him."  
  
He pulled into the parking lot of the hospital and as we approached the entrance to the emergency room, his cell phone rang. He glanced at me as he looked at the display on his phone. "It's Grissom."  
  
"Well, answer it." I was feeling annoyed as I clenched my jaw, trying to stifle the pain in my hand.  
  
"Stokes." Nick answered the phone as we walked through the doors to the ER. "Yeah, she's right here." He was silent for a few moments. "Uh, we're at the emergency room at Desert Palm." Nick pulled the phone away from his ear for a moment. "Grissom, she tried to beat up my Denali and her hand lost, I thought maybe an X-ray would be a good idea." He looked subtly amused and rolled his eyes as he pointed at the phone. "Ok, I will." He hung up the phone. "Let's go get you taken care of."  
  
We waited for what seemed like an eternity, but Nick was able to sweet talk one of the nurses and got me an ice pack for my hand, which helped a little, but not enough to take away the pain. At the moment, that was fine with me. If I could focus on the pain in my hand, then I would be somewhat distracted at the pain I felt for our victim and her husband and the baby that would never have a chance to take a breath. 


	6. Chapter 6

Sometimes I have to wonder if doctors go to medical school because they are sadists at heart. I mean, how much do they have to move around an injured hand to see if it hurts? Nick and I must have waited for about forty minutes before I actually had a doctor look at my hand. After one glance and a not so gentle prod, this doctor who appeared to be about ten years old pronounced that my hand was injured and I needed an X-ray. Before I could mutter an especially witty remark, Nick thanked him tactfully and cast me an amused glance.  
  
I rolled my eyes as the doctor left. "Nick, this is going to take all night, and meanwhile, we've got a case to work on."  
  
He raised a single eyebrow at me. "You should have thought about that before you took out your frustration on my dashboard."  
  
At the moment I felt like wallowing in self pity. "It didn't stop you from hitting the table when you were pissed off."  
  
He raised his hands and flexed both of them in front of my face. "I'm not the one getting my hand X-rayed."  
  
He had a point. A few moments later, the ten year old looking doctor returned with another doctor in tow.  
  
"I'm Dr. Mitchell. Dr. Sprague here says he thinks you might have broken your hand." This doctor actually looked old enough to have completed the required years of medical school as well as an internship in some specialty after first learning how to walk.  
  
Nick shook his hand. "This is Sara. I'm her friend Nick."  
  
Dr. Mitchell raised an eyebrow at me. "Sara, why don't you tell me what you did while I examine your hand."  
  
I grimaced in pain as he took my hand. "I hit Nick's dashboard with my fist."  
  
The doctor looked at Nick to confirm the story. Nick nodded. "We're Crime Scene Investigators with LVMPD and we've been working on a particularly difficult case. Sara was upset and wanted to take her frustration out on something. Unfortunately, the dashboard won."  
  
I glanced at Nick and rolled my eyes at him, before letting out a stream of curses as the doctor not so gently manipulated my hand. "You know, it hurts like hell. At some point is someone actually going to take an X-ray, or would the entire emergency room like to come in here and have a turn?" I was getting pissed.  
  
Dr. Mitchell dismissed Dr. Sprague with a well placed glance. "We'll get you set up here right away. I just wanted to take a look at your hand in case we need to do surgery."  
  
I let out an audible groan. All I needed was surgery. That meant time away from the case; time I didn't have.  
  
True to his word, they took an X-ray of my hand within ten minutes. While we waited for the doctor to return, Nick tried to keep me sane. "This isn't going to help toughen up your image, Sidle."  
  
Suddenly, I was very scared. My job is pretty much my life. I'm not sure what I would do if I had to stay home for a few days. "Nick, what am I going to do if it's broken?"  
  
I think he could tell how scared I was. "Sar, you can't change it, you might as well just make the best of it. If your hand is broken and you need a cast, I'll take you down to the casinos and see if we can get some celebrities to sign it."  
  
I chuckled. "Uh, Elvis impersonators don't count."  
  
Nick feigned disappointment. "Damn, and I was hoping there was some reason I could justify attending that Elvis convention at the Sands next week."  
  
We were interrupted by Dr. Mitchell whose expression didn't give away much. He put the X-ray up so I could see it. "Well, you've got a hairline fracture right here across these two bones, and it looks like you've managed to jam your wrist, but I don't think you're going to need a cast, just a splint for now, and unless you decide to go a few more rounds with a dashboard, I see no reason for surgery."  
  
I felt relief wash over me as the realization that I would not have to have surgery registered in my mind. However, in his next sentence, I felt my heart sink.  
  
"I don't want you driving for at least two weeks though. No unnecessary pressure on the bones, so they have a chance to heal properly. Give my office a call in the morning and make a follow up appointment." He handed Nick his card and me a prescription for pain killers and said we were free to go as soon as he put the splint on my hand.  
  
I grumbled all the way back to the lab. I was not looking forward to facing Grissom, who obviously had been looking for me when he'd called Nick's cell phone. "Uh, Nick?"  
  
He glanced over at me as we neared the lab. "Yeah?"  
  
"What did Grissom want earlier?" I wasn't sure I wanted to know.  
  
"He just wanted to know what happened to you. He said when you left you looked upset and no one had seen you for a while." Nick flashed me one of those grins that makes you want to smile regardless of how you feel.  
  
"Oh." I glanced out the window until we pulled into the parking lot.  
  
Nick turned off the engine and didn't move. Curiously, I turned to look at him. "What's up?"  
  
He looked like he was trying to find the best choice of words. "Are you ok?"  
  
I rolled my eyes at him. I did not want to have this conversation, even though I was pretty sure that he knew I was hiding something, which is why I was so upset in the first place. I held up my splinted hand. "Broken hand, Stokes. What do you think?"  
  
A faint smile played at the edges of his mouth. "That's not what I meant. Are you ok? Earlier you were pretty upset. Do you want to talk about it?"  
  
I let out a deep breath. "I'm fine, Nick. I just needed to blow off some steam. If I need someone to talk to, you'll be the first one to know. Ok?" I hoped I sounded convincing.  
  
He nodded at me and I could tell that he really didn't believe me, but he'd also known me long enough to know that I didn't like people pushing me and he almost always respected that.  
  
I moved to get out of the Denali and felt a hand on my arm. I glanced back at him and gave him a quizzical expression.  
  
"Sara, you don't have to tell me what's going on, but I'm your friend and I care about you. You can trust me." I knew he was sincere, but as I fought the panic welling up in me, I also knew I wasn't ready to tell anyone about what was going on, not even Nick who had shared his most hellish moment with me.  
  
I nodded at him. "We need to get inside." With that I descended from the vehicle and headed toward the door with Nick right behind me. I just hoped the rest of the crew wouldn't push me too much about what I'd done to my hand and why I'd been so pissed off in the first place. 


	7. Chapter 7

I braced myself as I saw Grissom coming my direction as I headed down the hallway toward the break room. Nick was still right behind me. As much as I would like to have avoided my boss at that moment, I knew there was no way I was going to be able to.  
  
He had concern written on his face. "How's your hand, Sara?" The expression on his face was the same that he'd given to me after the lab explosion, when I'd injured the same hand, when he'd called me 'honey'.  
  
I hardened my resolve. I was not about to go down that road again. I looked at him with a slightly annoyed expression as I lifted my splinted hand. "Hairline fracture." That was about as much information as I was willing to dish out at the moment. What I really wanted was to lose myself in a cup of coffee. I sure as hell hoped Greg had been in the break room recently.  
  
Grissom must have looked at Nick, because he began to give him a little more information. "Two of the bones in her hand have a hairline fracture. She's jammed her wrist and the doctor said she's not supposed to drive for a least two weeks so she doesn't put any undue pressure on the bones."  
  
I glared at my coffee cup. As much as I appreciated Nick filling Grissom in, I would much rather have just faded into the paint on the wall. I did not want to be the center of anyone's attention right now. I just wanted to work the case and find out who had murdered our victims. The least I could do was to get justice for the victims. We were their last voice and it was something that I felt that I owed to them.  
  
I felt a hand on my shoulder and I immediately stiffened and then relaxed as I realized that it was Nick and not Grissom. "Sara."  
  
I turned around and noticed that Grissom had retreated somewhere down the hall. "Yeah?" I looked at Nick quizzically and took a sip of my coffee, hoping that I looked ready to get back to work.  
  
He looked concerned, but tried to mask it. Instead he crossed his arms over his chest and raised his eyebrow at me, trying to look stern. "Shift is almost over and Grissom said the husband is going to be here this afternoon. So why don't you go home and get some sleep since we need to be back in here early?"  
  
I rolled my eyes at him, I'm sure there was a flash of anger in my expression. "Nick, I'm not supposed to drive, remember?" I took a sip of my coffee and knit my brows together in frustration.  
  
A smirk played at Nick's lips. "Sara, I know that. I'll drive you home and pick you up." He held up the prescription slip that I'd left in his Denali. "You also need to get this filled."  
  
I groused for a moment. "I don't need it, it'll knock me out."  
  
He chuckled. "That's the point." He reached over and squeezed my shoulder. "Besides, you're in a pretty foul mood and I think everyone would be a lot happier if you went home and got some sleep."  
  
I tried to glare at him, but with Nick that's hard. It's impossible to be mad at him for very long unless he's actually done something to piss you off. I ended up laughing. "Ok, fine. You can take me home, but don't expect me to be happy about it."  
  
He grinned at me. It was the first real smile I think I'd seen on him all night. I think Nick needed sleep as much as I did and I hoped that he'd go home and get some rather than come back to the lab for the rest of shift.  
  
I went and grabbed all the things I'd left behind in my haste when I'd walked out before. Things like my cell phone and my purse. I almost forgot my keys until I realized I'd have a hard time getting into my apartment without them. I had several files in my hand as I went to meet Nick in the break room, but upon seeing me approach with them, he plucked them right out of my hand. "I'll just put these away and then we can leave."  
  
"Nick." If I was a child, I think I would have been tempted to ask if I wanted cheese with that whine. Instead, Nick just chuckled at me and disappeared for a few moments.  
  
When he returned we made our way out to his Denali and stopped by a 24-hour pharmacy to get my prescription filled. Ever much the southern gentleman, Nick made sure I was settled in my apartment and had eaten something so he could witness me taking one of the painkillers before he left with assurances that he'd be back at three that afternoon to pick me up so we could talk to Lieutenant Smith when he arrived.  
  
I changed into my pajamas and suddenly I was overwhelmed by fatigue. The events of this case had exhausted me as much as they had frustrated me. I crawled under the covers and fell asleep in minutes. 


	8. Chapter 8

I suppose I shouldn't have been all that surprised, but when I woke up, I was in a somewhat better mood, not that the case was off my mind, I think I was just more sleep deprived than I had thought. I glanced at the clock and realized that it was ten minutes to three. I swore under my breath and leaped out of bed, rushing towards the shower. I had just pulled my robe on after getting out of the shower, and was in the process of wrapping a towel around my hair when I heard a knock at the door. Leave it to Nick to be punctual.  
  
"Just a minute!" I yelled it at the top of my lungs, hoping that he heard me. I headed to the front door, cracking it open slightly to reveal Nick standing there with a couple of bags in his hand. I must have had an odd expression on my face because he held them up to me at eye level.  
  
"I brought food." He grinned at me and then something I couldn't quite identify flashed across his face and he glanced away from me as I opened the door to let him in.  
  
I glanced down an realized that the fact I was wearing my robe probably made him a little uncomfortable. I chuckled inwardly that I Sara Sidle might actually have the power to make Nick Stokes uncomfortable simply by wearing a thick blue terry cloth robe with a moon and stars on it. I glanced back at him and he continued to avert his gaze from me. I almost laughed out loud. "I woke up late."  
  
"I can see that." Nick glanced at me and then glanced away immediately.  
  
"I'll just go get dressed." I replied with a hint of amusement in my voice.  
  
"I'll be right here." Nick stated as he busied himself in my kitchen looking for utensils.  
  
It took me longer to get ready than I had anticipated. I had managed to shower with the damn splint on by wrapping a plastic bag around my hand. I discovered, however, that I had suddenly become limited on my clothing choices because my hand simply wouldn't fit through the sleeves of several of my favorite shirts. By the time I emerged from my bedroom fully dressed, minus the towel on my head, I decided it wasn't worth the effort it would take one handed to style my hair. Curly it was, and curly it would stay.  
  
Nick had put the food he brought out on a couple of plates and was sitting on the couch. He glanced up at me and grinned. "How did you sleep?"  
  
I rolled my eyes at him. "Well, when you pop pain pills, quite well."  
  
He furrowed his brow slightly. "How does your hand feel?"  
  
I gave my hand a studied glance for a moment. "It hurts. That's about as specific as I can get right now."  
  
Nick gestured for me to join him. "Chinese food."  
  
Suddenly, I was very hungry. I picked up a pair of chopsticks that Nick had thoughtfully pulled apart for me and began to devour the food he'd placed on my plate. I glanced over at him. "Thanks."  
  
"No problem." He chuckled at me.  
  
I raised a suspicious eyebrow at him. "What's so funny?"  
  
He raised his hand and shook his head. "Nothing. I just never expected Sara Sidle to own a robe like one of my sisters."  
  
I think my cheeks must have flushed a little because they felt warm. "I could have made you wait outside."  
  
"Yes, you could have." His tone was very matter of fact and I silently wondered if maybe I should have let him stay outside until I'd gotten dressed.  
  
"What time is the husband coming in?" I needed to immerse myself in work mode and get off this topic of conversation while it was still safe.  
  
"Grissom said he'd be in around four, which gives us about thirty minutes." Nick observed as he glanced at his watch.  
  
A sudden panic hit me. "We need to get going." I put down my chopsticks and started to stand so I could clear the dishes.  
  
Nick put his hand on my arm. "Sara, he has to ID the body before we can talk to him. We have some time. You need to eat."  
  
Arguing with Nick Stokes about taking care of yourself is a losing proposition, so I sat back down and finished the food on my plate as quickly as I could. Regardless of what he'd said, I wanted to be there when the husband arrived. I needed to see his demeanor when he saw his wife's face. Those were things that spoke volumes about a relationship that no amount of interviewing could accurately reveal.  
  
Nick picked up the plates and put them in my sink. He cleared the food and stowed the cartons in my fridge next to a few other take out cartons. As he took in the contents of my refrigerator, he glanced at me with concern. There was a time, that I'd decided I'd never eat take out again, that I needed to get out and connect with the world. Lately though, I'd been falling back into the habit of being a recluse. Nick's expression was loaded. Although he didn't say a word, I knew I was in for a conversation later.  
  
I grabbed my jacket and we made our way to his Denali. Nick had the radio tuned to some annoying country station and I had to try not to laugh as he sang along. It wasn't that he didn't have a pleasant voice, I think it was because he didn't seem to realize he was singing.  
  
We pulled into the parking lot and as we headed into the building and down the hall, I could see that Lieutenant Smith was already there. He looked every part the grieving husband and his face held the anguish of a man who'd learned that not only was his wife murdered, but she was carrying a child that wasn't his. 


	9. Chapter 9

Our interview with Lieutenant Smith was disappointing. He had no idea that his wife had been pregnant, and Grissom had failed to mention to us that he hadn't informed the man exactly how far along she was. Shock and grief was evident on the man's face. Inwardly, I cursed Grissom for not being more sensitive, but then, this was Grissom, he just didn't think sometimes.  
  
Nick and I finished up interviewing the Lieutenant and let him know that we would be unable to release his wife's body for burial for at least a few more days. I hoped that we'd be able to let him put her to rest sooner rather than later. The man left looking a bit shell shocked. I knew that look all too well. As we left the interview room, I wrapped my arms around myself. I wasn't cold particularly, just anxious about everything to do with this case. It was bringing up things that I didn't want to think about and for the countless time in the last couple of days I fought to squash the emotions that threatened to surface.  
  
I glanced at Nick as we walked toward the break room. "I'm going to review the case files for a while."  
  
He looked at me and I could tell that he was becoming worried about me. Not just because I'd taken to eating take out again and become a recluse, and not just because I broke my hand hitting his dashboard. Nick Stokes was my friend and he could see through me. I just silently hoped he wouldn't press me, because I felt like with one push I would disintegrate and cease to exist.  
  
"Ok." He let it go, but I knew we would talk later. I didn't really have much of a choice since I wasn't allowed to drive for the next couple of weeks. I poured myself a cup of coffee and found an empty office to hole up in and get lost in the details the files would offer up. As I read them, a few things began to emerge.  
  
Chelsea Smith was not an innocent. As I looked into the background that O'Reilly compiled on her, I learned a few things. At one point in time, she had worked as an intern at the very branch of the LVMPD that the tazer gun had been stolen from. In fact it disappeared about the same time she would have learned she was pregnant, and about the time same her husband had shipped out to sea.  
  
I began to mull that over. Could she have stolen the tazer feeling that she needed to protect herself from something or someone she couldn't talk about? Certainly living with her grandfather wouldn't offer much protection, even if he was a decorated war veteran. We needed to find out who the father of her baby was and soon. I believed that held the key to this case. At least I hoped it did. Whoever he was held the most motive to kill her, especially if he'd found out she was pregnant and had refused to abort the child, or give it up for adoption.  
  
Another thought occurred to me. Someone at some point in time must have known that Chelsea had the tazer. How else would they have used it against her? Her murder was clearly premeditated. Hydrochloric acid was not something people kept around the house outside of fertilizer. The concentrations of it that we found suggested another source. And at that concentration, not using personal protective equipment would spell certain death, or at the very least, very serious injury.  
  
I placed a phone call to O'Reilly and left him a message to call me. I wanted to know if he or any of the other uniforms had interviewed any of the neighbors, if anyone had noticed someone coming by on a regular basis. Neither Chelsea Smith nor her grandfather had any other family outside of each other and her husband, so the next step was to find someone, anyone who knew them.  
  
I realized that I was starting to get a serious headache and my hand was throbbing. I glanced up at the clock and realized that I'd been sitting for the last three hours. I supposed I should make my way to the break room as shift was going to start soon, and at least make an appearance before Nick, or worse yet, Grissom came looking for me.  
  
Everyone was already assembled around the table as I entered. Thankfully, only Warrick commented on my hand.  
  
"Sara, I hear you tried to go a few rounds with Nick's Denali." He smiled at me with an expression that conveyed that he understood I didn't want to talk about it.  
  
I chuckled softly and quipped back dryly. "Yeah, any excuse I can find to meet cute doctors."  
  
After Grissom assigned cases to Warrick and Catherine, he looked at Nick and I. "I assume you're still working the same case."  
  
I nodded. "Yeah, I've got a few interesting tidbits of information, I'm just waiting for O'Reilly to call me back with something. I just need to go over it with Nick."  
  
Nick raised a curious eyebrow at me and I was pretty certain by the accompanying expression that it wasn't because of what I'd just said. I had a feeling we were going to be talking in the not too distant future about what had been bothering me and this time he wasn't going to just be content to just let it slide. 


	10. Chapter 10

The sooner came sooner than I'd dreaded. The moment Grissom left the break room, Nick turned to me. "Sara."  
  
I looked at him, hoping that I could focus us on the case. His expression told me that this clearly was not going to happen. "What?"  
  
He let out a deep breath, his face held concern. "We need to talk."  
  
"Well, you've got me captive for the commute." I wasn't going to give in unless it was my last option. I hoped that he would take the hint and know that I was so close to losing it right at that moment that any little push and I'd go tumbling over the edge.  
  
He shook his head and stood up. "C'mon, we're going for a drive."  
  
I knew by the tone of his voice that there was no point in arguing, not unless I wanted to cause a scene right there in the middle of the crime lab. Then more than just Nick would know that there was something going on, and the one thing I did not want was to tell everyone about what was bothering more than just telling any one person. I got up and followed him wordlessly out to the parking lot.  
  
This had almost become a habit over the last couple of days. I climbed into the passenger seat of his Denali and he turned the vehicle out onto the street heading toward some mystery destination. I glanced out the window, hoping to put off talking as long as possible.  
  
Nick's voice brought me out of my reverie. "Sara, I'm worried about you. I know that something is bothering you. I want you to tell me, no, I need you to tell me what it is."  
  
I glanced at him and something in me started to break. I knew that the second I opened my mouth to speak, it would be too late to turn back, too late to stop the tears that already had begun to spill down my cheeks.  
  
Nick's expression softened as he looked at me. He pulled the Denali up to the curb and shut the engine off. It was then that I realized he'd brought us to his house.  
  
I walked behind him up the path to his front door and as we walked inside, he flicked a light on and disappeared for a moment. He returned a moment later with a box of Kleenex and a couple of cans of soda and led me over to the couch.  
  
As we sat on the couch I pulled my legs up and hugged them against my body, hoping to somehow deflect the pain that was welling up and threatening to swallow me. I tried to close my eyes tightly to somehow contain the emotion that was spilling out. Tears continued to fall and at some point, I realized that Nick had wrapped his arms around me and was telling me that everything was going to be ok in soothing tones. I just leaned into him and let the tears fall.  
  
A while later, I finally stopped crying and Nick's voice was so tentative as he whispered. "Sara, tell me what's going on."  
  
I wiped the tears from my eyes and pushed away from him, trying to get my bearings. I grabbed a few Kleenexes from the box and blew my nose. I let out a nervous giggle. "I feel pretty stupid."  
  
Nick just looked at me with a searching expression. I think he could tell I needed a distraction. "You want something to eat?"  
  
I nodded. "Yeah."  
  
While he put together a couple of sandwiches, I just sat there trying to figure out if I could get out of telling him what was bothering me so much. The thing is, I didn't think I could hold it in any longer. This case in particular had dredged up memories I had worked so hard to squash. I knew that I could trust Nick.  
  
He returned with the food and we ate in silence.  
  
I finished and put my plate on the coffee table in front of me and took a deep breath before speaking again. "Nick, did you know I didn't finish grad school at Harvard?"  
  
He thought about that for a moment, and I could tell he wondered if in fact he did know that. "I think you might have mentioned it."  
  
"Do you know why?" I knew that there was no way he could possibly know the real answer to this question.  
  
"You moved back to San Francisco didn't you?" I could tell from his expression that he knew I needed him to let me talk at my own pace.  
  
I nodded. "Yeah, I got a job at the crime lab there. I met Grissom when I was a student at Harvard and a friend of his ran the lab in San Francisco. He helped me get a job there."  
  
Nick absentmindedly reached for my hand to offer me silent encouragement.  
  
"My friend Lisa was my roommate during grad school. I'd known her as an undergrad and we decided since we were both braniacs that we could avoid all the parties and just study. It worked out really well for a while. It seemed one of us was always in a lab working on something. She was pretty brilliant." I glanced at Nick. He smiled at me. I continued. "Anyway, she started seeing this guy named Andrew. Things between them seemed pretty serious and he started spending more and more time at our apartment. I came home one day and Lisa was really upset. She had found out she was pregnant and when she'd told Andrew he told her he wanted her to have an abortion. She was Catholic, so she really didn't see that as an option. We spent a lot of time talking about it and she finally decided that what she really wanted to do was to have the baby." I glanced at Nick again.  
  
He smiled and squeezed my hand. "It sounds like you're the kind of friend she needed, Sar."  
  
I took a deep breath. I knew the rest of this story would be difficult for me to get out. "Andrew was really upset with her that she planned to have the baby. He blamed me for talking her into it and said that I'd ruined his life. He threatened to kill me."  
  
Worry flashed across Nick's face and he put his arm protectively around my shoulder as I continued.  
  
"I was working late one night in one of the labs and when I got home, the front door was open. I knew as soon as I saw that door, that something was wrong. I knew I should have left and called the police, but instead I went inside. I found Lisa in her room beaten almost to death, she wasn't conscious and was barely breathing. I tried to call 911, but I had the phone knocked out of my hand and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Andrew swinging something at me. The next thing I remember was waking up in the hospital." I felt tears stinging my eyes again and tried to fight against the sobs that wanted to escape. "Andrew had been waiting for me, and he beat the shit out of me. Lisa didn't make it, she died on the way to the hospital." I couldn't hold back the sobs any longer and all that I'd been fighting against every time I'd seen a young woman as a victim of a violent crime cascaded out against Nick's chest as he held me close and let me cry. 


	11. Chapter 11

I finally stopped crying, but couldn't bring myself to move away from Nick or look him in the eye. I just sat there curled up against him on his couch with my head on his chest, my fingers absentmindedly playing with one of the buttons on his shirt. I felt something lightly hit my cheek and I glanced up at him. Tears were running silently down Nick's face and it startled me. Not to see him cry, but that he was crying because of what I'd told him.  
  
I reached up to brush his tears away with my fingers and he turned to look at me. I just stopped and stared at him, my eyes locking with his. At that moment, I saw something I'd never seen before. Or perhaps I'd seen it, but had just chosen to run from it. Nick adored me. Everything in his expression told me that. Maybe that's why I did what I did, maybe that's why this time, I didn't run away. I didn't even take time to think about it. I closed my eyes and softly kissed him.  
  
Any worry I had that I was making the biggest mistake of my life, as I realized that my lips had connected with his and it was too late to take it back, were erased when he began responding. I'd never kissed anyone quite like that before and had never been kissed by anyone quite like that before. In a word it was electric.  
  
We pulled away from each other, as much to catch our breaths as to stare at each other and wonder how that had just happened. Slowly I noticed a smile forming on Nick's face, then I realized that I was smiling too. He reached over and tucked a curl behind my ear, trailing his fingers against my cheek before reaching between us and taking my hand in his. I finally found my words. "Wow."  
  
He chuckled and echoed my sentiment. "Yeah." He studied me for a moment before speaking again. "Sara, we should get back. We still have a case to work."  
  
I nodded, I knew he was right.  
  
"Are you going to be ok?" He was genuinely concerned.  
  
I nodded. "Nick, I need to work this case." I felt him squeeze my hand. I knew he understood.  
  
"Uh, about what just happened here, do you want to talk about that later?" He looked a little worried that perhaps I was going to tell him I had just gotten caught up in the emotion of the moment.  
  
I nodded and smiled at him. "Yeah, I do want to talk about it later." I stood up and then wondered what I must look like.  
  
Nick looked at me curiously as he stood up next to me. "Is something wrong?"  
  
I raised an eyebrow at him. "I need to go look in a mirror, I have a feeling that I look like I've been crying."  
  
Nick chuckled softly. "Well you have been."  
  
I shot him an amused glance. "I don't exactly want the entire lab to know that. I'll be right back." I disappeared into his bathroom and took a look at myself in the mirror. My face was red and splotchy and my eyes looked like they were designed to match.  
  
Nick knocked softly on the bathroom door. "Sara?"  
  
I opened it and smiled at his concerned expression. "Yeah?"  
  
"I thought you might need these." He handed me a wash cloth and a hand towel.  
  
I took them and wondered silently to myself how dumb I was to not have noticed before now what an amazing person Nick was. "Thanks." I spent a few moments washing my face, a task made more difficult by the damn splint on my hand.  
  
When I emerged, he'd collected my jacket and was standing by the front door. I knew how anxious we both were to get a break in this case so we could put the culprit behind bars and I also knew that it was not a very good idea to stay here alone together until we'd had a chance to talk about that kiss.  
  
By the time we got back to the lab, O'Reilly had still not called me back and I quickly grabbed a cup of coffee and headed back to the office I'd been working in, hoping I could decipher a bit more information from the case files.  
  
I'm not sure how long I'd been pouring over the files, but I heard a throat being cleared in the doorway. I glanced up to see Grissom standing there. "How's the hand?"  
  
I glanced at it and realized I'd been so absorbed in what I was working on that I'd managed to block out the pain. Now that I was giving it my full concentration, I realized it was throbbing. I wrinkled my nose as I looked back at Grissom. "It hurts like hell."  
  
"Anything I can do?" Grissom looked, well, I'm not sure how to describe the expression on his face, but it made me nervous. I once thought I wanted Grissom to look at me like that, but now, well it was just too damn late.  
  
I just shook my head and looked at him quizzically. "Not unless you can install Nerf dashboards in all the Denalis."  
  
A flicker of a smile flashed across his face for a moment. "Well, at least you've got your sense of humor."  
  
He studied me intently and it began to make me feel extremely uncomfortable. "Uh, Grissom, did you want something else?" I'm sure my expression held at least a little annoyance.  
  
"Do you want a ride home later? I thought maybe we could get something to eat." He looked a little more confident than I thought he should.  
  
I shook my head. "Nick has it covered." I turned my attention back to the file I was working on, hoping he would understand that I didn't want to further the conversation.  
  
He didn't say another word and turned on his heels and disappeared.  
  
Now that I was acutely aware of the pain in my hand, I decided to take a break and get a cup of coffee. I got up and made my way to the break room to pour myself some coffee. Just as I was about to take a sip, my cell phone rang.  
  
It was O'Reilly. "I hope you have something for me." I smiled. "Ok, I'll get Nick and we'll meet you there." I hung up the phone and dialed Nick's number rather that search for him through the labyrinth of the lab. He picked up on the second ring. "Hey, O'Reilly has something for us, we need to meet him at the crime scene. I'll meet you in the parking lot."  
  
I made my way out to the parking lot where Nick was already loading our kits into the Denali. I certainly hoped that what O'Reilly had found out would be pivotal in solving our case. 


	12. Chapter 12

O'Reilly was standing next to his dark colored Taurus as Nick and I pulled up in the Denali. He was holding his hands up next to his mouth and blowing into them and rubbing them together trying to keep warm. It occurred to me that he could have just sat in the car until we arrived, because even in the desert it's cold at night in the winter. Nick and I descended from the Denali and O'Reilly noticed the splint on my hand. "What did you do to yourself, Sidle? Try and take on another suspect?" I shook my head and felt a surge of annoyance at the barb O'Reilly had thrown my way. Right after the lab explosion, I had gone with Brass and a couple of officers to the apartment of a gang member suspected in a murder Nick and I had investigated and had pulled my weapon. The guy outweighed me by at least double and Brass made a point to tell me I was out of line. Nick heard about it and he gave me a gentle ear full as well, it had even gotten back to Grissom. "Worse, she tried to beat up my Denali." Nick tried to inflect a little humor into the situation. "What do you have, O'Reilly?" The beefy sergeant motioned for us to follow him into the house. It appeared that someone had been there since the last time we had and had pretty much trashed the place. I looked at him curiously. "Any idea who did this?" He chuckled. "If we did, I think they'd be our prime suspect don't you think?" "Maybe, maybe not." I answered wondering if it was a random burglary after people knew the residents were deceased or if it was in fact someone looking for something to cover their tracks. I wasn't betting on the intruder being the killer. It didn't seem to fit the profile we'd compiled. Why would they take such care to cover their tracks in a murder only to return and make complete chaos of the place? But then, as the old saying goes, they always return to the scene of the crime. I glanced at Nick. He nodded at me imperceptibly. "O'Reilly, did you come across any kind of address book or calendar when you were trying to contact the husband?" He nodded. "Yeah, it's back at the station." I felt a surge of irritation at the man. For a veteran cop, he could be a bit dense sometimes. "Uh, we're going to need to take a look at it." He just nodded at me. Nick returned to the Denali to get our kits so we could dust for prints. We couldn't rule out that the suspect didn't return to the scene and if they had, we might just get lucky and get a hit in AFIS if we could find a print. Nick began taking photos as I dusted for prints. We lifted a couple of partials and an entire palm print; then we hit pay dirt. Near the back door were a series of shoe prints. I had to chuckle. Warrick would be disappointed he wasn't here, he loved finding shoe prints because he'd found some of the worst criminals that way. I was having a hard time laying things out to lift the print and I heard a soft chuckle behind me. I glanced back and smirked at Nick. "Are you going to just stand there making fun of me, Stokes, or are you going to get down here and help me?" He just flashed me a grin as he knelt down next to me and helped lay out the static sheet to lift the dusty shoe print onto it. Once we were done, we packed up the kit and headed back to the Denali so we could transport the new evidence to the lab. "Got a call, let me know if you need anything more." O'Reilly was out of breath as he jogged off toward his Taurus. I glanced at Nick and tried to restrain my smirk. "Do they require detectives to take physicals every year?" Nick chuckled. "I'm not even going to dignify that with a comment, Sidle." We finished loading the evidence and the kits and climbed into the front of the SUV, heading back toward the lab. The drive back was almost as quiet as the drive out. I don't think either of us really knew what to say to the other after what had happened on Nick's couch earlier. I heard Nick clear his throat and I could feel the corners of my mouth curl up slightly as I anticipated the conversation that was coming. "Sara." Nick sounded tentative. I glanced over at him and tried to study him subtly. "Yeah?" He looked like he was trying to figure out the best way to say what was on his mind. "Uh, about earlier." I bit my lower lip as I contemplated trying to lighten the mood in the vehicle. Nick was one of my best friends and this awkwardness was killing me. "Earlier?" I could see momentary panic flash across Nick's face as he nodded. "Earlier as in the investigation or earlier as in the kiss on your couch?" I could feel my heart beating rapidly and suddenly I felt nervous. I tried to fight the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that maybe I misread Nick's face right before I'd kissed him, that maybe he didn't smile after we had broken apart. Suddenly, I wasn't sure about anything. He chuckled softly. "Earlier as in the kiss." "Oh." I never had a problem with stuttering until that moment. Who knew that a single two letter word could be so hard to utter? "Do you want to talk about it?" Nick sounded hesitant, dare I say nervous. I looked straight at him and just nodded as I continued in my new found speech problem. "I, uh, yeah, I mean, uh, we should probably do that." I glanced away from him and could feel the heat in my cheeks as I'm sure my face was deepening in color. I could hear Nick exhale. "I just didn't expect you to kiss me." My heart sank into the pit of my stomach and my mouth went dry. I felt the sudden urge to wrap my arms tightly around my body. I couldn't look at Nick. "Uh, I'm sorry." My voice cracked when I spoke, and suddenly I found the floor mats incredibly interesting. "Are you sorry?" It wasn't an accusation. There was a hint of a plea in his voice that almost sounded like he hoped I wasn't sorry. I glanced at him and could see him trying to search my face out of the corner of his eye as he drove. My voice didn't seem to want to work, but what finally came out was a combination of a croak and a stutter. "Uh, I, what I'm trying, I mean, we, you, I." It didn't make sense and suddenly I started laughing nervously. Nick's face was clouded with confusion. I cleared my throat and tried again. "I'm not sorry I kissed you." I was surprised that my sentence came out so clear. Nick didn't say anything and suddenly, I was worried again. I turned my gaze back to the floor mats and stuttered as I asked a question I feared the answer to. "Uh, are you sorry, Nick?" My brows were furrowed nervously and I bit my lower lip, hoping that rejection wasn't on the horizon. "No, I'm not sorry either." His voice was barely a whisper and I had to strain to hear him. My eyebrows shot up, I wasn't sure I heard him correctly. "What?" His voice was stronger and there was the beginning of a smile on his face. "No, Sara, I'm not sorry about that kiss. I've wanted to do that for a long time." If Nick had told me that he hated Texas, I could not have been more surprised. "You what?" He grinned at me. "Sara, I've wanted to kiss you for about as long as I've known you." "Oh." All I could do was just sit there and stare at him. In a word, I was stunned. We drove in silence for a while and then I shook myself out of my stupor. "Nick, why didn't you say anything?" He raised a slightly amused eyebrow at me. 'In a word, Sara? Grissom." "Oh." I realized he was right, until Grissom made his rejection of me clear, I would not have been able to see past the end of my nose to notice anyone else. "I've been really blind." I stared at Nick, studying his strong jaw and the deep lines etched into his face from smiling. He chuckled at me. "No, Sara, you've just been preoccupied." He reached over and took my good hand in his and grinned. "Do you think we could go out sometime?" I looked at my hand in his and glanced up at his handsome face, the face of my dear friend, and nodded. "Yeah, I'd like that." He squeezed my hand before releasing it as we pulled into the parking lot of the lab and just said one word that spoke volumes. "Good." 


	13. Chapter 13

Warrick's case had been wrapped up and he was delighted to help us out with the shoe print. If there was a way to identify a suspect through their shoes, Warrick was the man for the job. I had gotten one of the officers working with O'Reilly to bring Chelsea Smith's calendar and address book to me at the lab. I began to pour over it and check the calendar entries for any clue as to friends or coworkers that might know a little bit more about the victim and who might be responsible for her death.  
  
I'm not sure how long I'd been sitting there when I sensed someone standing in the doorway. I glanced up. Grissom stood there watching me. I really hoped this wasn't going to become a habit with him. "Can I do something for you, Grissom?"  
  
A half smile spread across his face and his voice was soft. "Would you have dinner with me, Sara?"  
  
If only he'd looked at me like that, talked to my like this six months ago, there would have been no hesitation on my part. But now I had a reason to hesitate, a reason to be abrupt. It had been too late for him for a while, but now I had another reason. Nick.  
  
I shook my head. "No, Grissom, I don't."  
  
He blinked. I don't think that he was expecting that kind of reaction from me. I think he must have thought if I'd been willing to throw myself at him for three years, what were a few more months? I'd had enough though, and I'd moved on. He steadied himself and looked at me over the rim of his glasses. "Can I ask why?"  
  
I let out a deep breath and suddenly became acutely aware that I needed a pain pill for my hand and copious amounts of sleep. "It's too late, Gris."  
  
"Oh." He took a step back and a bit of confusion clouded his face. He knitted his brows together and I could see a question forming on his face. "Sara?"  
  
I studied him as I replied. "Yeah, Gris?"  
  
"Is there someone else?" At that moment it occurred to me that Grissom was really just like the rest of us. Afraid of rejection. Somewhat insecure about relationships. Not worthy of being put on a pedestal. A pedestal I'd had him on for too long. He was just a man. A brilliant man who I had a great deal of respect for professionally, but no longer had an interest in romantically.  
  
I smiled at him. "Maybe." I turned my attention back to the address book.  
  
"Oh." With that Grissom turned and left.  
  
I glanced up at the doorway as he walked down the hall and regarded the conversation curiously. It amazed me how a little time could shift things so significantly. As I was lost in thought, Nick's frame moved into the doorway. He had an amused expression on his face and crossed his arms over his chest. "Shift's over. Ready to go?"  
  
I nodded at him, a smile forming on my face as I stood up and followed him to the locker room. I stowed my gear and glanced over at him. I had to laugh. He was leaning against the bay of lockers staring at me with a grin on his face. Noticing my expression he looked at me inquisitively. "What's so funny, Sidle?"  
  
I raised an eyebrow at him and just shook my head. "You are."  
  
"Glad you think so." There was a mischievous twinkle in his eye.  
  
I tilted my head slightly and couldn't help but smile. "Do you think we could stop somewhere? I don't think I've got much food in my apartment and I really need to take one of those pain pills."  
  
Concern flickered across his face and he reached out touched my elbow. "How's your hand?"  
  
I smirked at him. "It hurts like hell, what do you think?"  
  
He furrowed his brow and reached over and caressed my cheek with his fingers. My stomach fluttered at the sensation and I think my eyes widened in surprise. He dropped his hand from my face and he looked and sounded apologetic. "I'm sorry, Sara."  
  
I reached over and took his hand as it dropped with my good one, looking into his eyes and smiling. "Hey, no reason to be sorry." I held up my injured hand. "This isn't your fault." I squeezed his hand as I held it and lifted it between us. "And this is just going to take a little getting used to." I squeezed his hand before I let go.  
  
"What do you want to eat?" He grinned at me again.  
  
"You guys grabbing a bite to eat?" Warrick sauntered in looking hungry. Come to think of it, Warrick is always hungry.  
  
I nodded. "Yeah, I don't have any food in my apartment to speak of and I need to take a pain pill before I go to sleep."  
  
Warrick looked at me with concern. "How's the hand?"  
  
"To quote Ms. Sidle here 'it hurts like hell'." Nick answered for me. "You guys want to go to the diner?"  
  
I glanced at Warrick and he nodded. I looked back at Nick. "Sounds good to me."  
  
The three of us trailed out of the lab, running into Catherine and Greg on the way out. We all ended up meeting at the diner and for the first time in the last couple of days, I actually felt like I was starting to relax. I mean, I still had this case heavy on my mind, but my coworkers are like family to me and I really enjoy spending time with them outside of work.  
  
I had to laugh at Greg. He insisted on sitting next to me in the booth, much to the amusement of Nick and Warrick. All through the meal he kept flirting with me. You know, I do have to hand it to Greg, when he sees something he wants, he doesn't give up easily. He's going to be so disappointed when he finds out that there is something going on between Nick and I, and I think Catherine, Warrick, and Grissom are going to be a little surprised.  
  
After breakfast, Nick drove me home. The drive was remarkably silent. I felt as nervous as a teenage girl on her first date, and I silently wondered if Nick felt the same way. Crap, this was Nick, and he was just bringing me home, it wasn't like we were going to be jumping into bed anytime soon. Of course we hadn't talked about that, we hadn't talked about much of anything besides admitting in a roundabout way that kissing each other wasn't a mistake and we'd like to go out on a date sometime.  
  
Nick pulled into the parking lot of my apartment complex and turned off the engine. He glanced over at me with an expression I'd expect from a parent, just not my parents. "Did you call the doctor and make a follow up appointment for your hand?"  
  
I realized that with everything going on, I had completely forgotten. I'm sure I had a sheepish expression on my face as I bit my lower lip and shook my head.  
  
He chuckled at me and unfastened his seatbelt. "I'll walk you up and you can call and make the appointment while I watch you take your pain medication."  
  
I pursed my lips trying to restrain a smirk unsuccessfully and unfastened my seatbelt and opened the door of the Denali. I glanced over at Nick as we walked up the stairs to the door of my apartment. "I already have a dad. I don't need two."  
  
He grinned at me and put his hand on my shoulder as we stopped in front of my door and I pulled out my keys. "Don't worry, Sara, I have absolutely no interest in having a fatherly relationship with you."  
  
I think my cheeks turned a little pink at that comment, because as I said, we hadn't really talked about much besides that kiss. "Uh, that's good." I fumbled with the lock for a moment and Nick followed me inside and pulled out the business card the doctor had given him at the hospital and dialed the number for me on his cell phone.  
  
After I made the appointment and hung up the phone, I noticed that Nick had gotten me a glass of water and held one of the pills in his hand. I tried not to laugh as I took the pill from his hand and washed it down with the water. I set the glass down and raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm pretty sure that I can remember to brush my teeth before I go to sleep."  
  
An embarrassed smile spread across his face. "I'm sorry." I think he realized that he was going a little overboard with the caretaker role.  
  
"Nick, this is just weird." I needed to get the tension out of the room. This was Nick for goodness sake.  
  
"Uh, what's weird." He looked a little confused.  
  
I gestured toward him. "We hardly talked on the way here. I mean, you're one of my best friends and I feel awkward because I kissed you. I mean, I'm glad I kissed you, but if we're not going to be able to talk to each other without feeling weird, then maybe it wasn't such a good idea."  
  
Nick's expression was unreadable. He cleared his throat, his hands rested on his hips. "Sara, I care about you. I meant it when I said I've wanted to kiss you almost since I met you. If that makes things between us weird, I'm sorry. But I'd really like to see where things might go between us; I want to give it a shot." He looked at me in anticipation.  
  
"Uh, what does that mean exactly, because I'm a little scared." I bit my lip as I looked at the floor, glancing up at him.  
  
Nick studied me for a moment and then walked over to me and wrapped his arms around me, resting his chin on top of my head. "Sara, we'll take this really slow. You mean too much to me as a friend to lose that, but I also care about you too much to not try and see what dating each other is like, what it might become."  
  
"Ok." I think my voice was barely a whisper. "Slow is good." I felt the nervousness in my stomach begin to dissipate a little. I pulled away from him smiling and yawned. "I'm tired."  
  
He nodded, smiling at me. "Ok, I'll go so you can get some sleep." He kissed the top of my head and walked to the door.  
  
"Nick?" I tilted my head as I looked at him. "You don't have to move quite that slow. You can kiss me." I'm sure my amusement showed on my face.  
  
He turned to face me and a wide grin worthy of the state of Texas spread across his face as I walked over to him at the door. He leaned down and kissed me softly, cupping the side of my face with the palm of his hand. As he pulled away he rested his forehead against mine and caressed my cheek with his thumb. "I'll see you tonight." He placed one more quick kiss on my lips before he turned and walked out the door.  
  
I just stood there grinning as I watched him walk to his Denali. 


	14. Chapter 14

I woke up feeling a bit groggy and then the events of the last twenty-four hours between Nick and I started to play through my mind and I felt a smile spread across my face. I wasn't really sure what a romantic relationship between us would look like, but we both wanted to give it a try, and damn, could that man kiss. Suddenly a thought hit me and I sat straight up in bed and glanced at the clock. It was a good three hours before shift was supposed to start, but I needed to get there now. After spending hours pouring over Chelsea Smith's address book and calendar, it suddenly clicked. I reached over and picked up the phone, dialing Nick's number.  
  
His voice was groggy and I could tell he had to fumble around to find the phone after he knocked it off what I assumed was his bedside table. "Stokes."  
  
"Nick." There was an urgency in my voice as I got out of bed and began to pull clothes out of my closet, cradling the phone against my shoulder.  
  
"Sara?" He sounded wide awake and slightly panicked. "Are you ok? Do you need something?"  
  
"I think I've got a lead on our suspect." Things were becoming clearer to me by the moment. I leaned down into the closet to dig out a pair of shoes to go with my low rise slacks.  
  
Nick sounded confused. "Where are you? You're not at work are you? You're supposed to be sleeping. You know you're not supposed to drive. Wait, your Denali is still at the lab."  
  
I couldn't help but laugh. "Are you done? Can I talk now?" I pulled out a pair of comfortable but stylish black boots and tossed them toward my bed where my slacks and blouse had ended up.  
  
He chuckled, sounding a bit more coherent and less worried. "Sorry, but what am I supposed to think when you wake me up out of a dead sleep?"  
  
"First of all, I'm at home. Secondly, how soon can you get here? I need to go back to work and take another look at that calendar." I hoped that Nick wouldn't object otherwise I'd have to call a cab. I walked over to my dresser and pulled out some clean underwear before heading towards the bathroom to take a shower.  
  
As I turned on the water in the shower, I heard Nick chuckle. "What are you doing?"  
  
I rolled my eyes before I answered him. "Nick, I'm getting ready to take a shower, so I need to hang up. Are you going to come over and drive me to the lab or do I need to call a cab?" I was becoming a bit impatient because I wanted to try and run down some of these leads before it got too much later.  
  
"I'll come get you. Do I have time to take a shower myself before I come over?" He sounded like he was amused at me calling and waking him up. I supposed it was the least I could do to give him a little time to get himself ready.  
  
I laughed softly. "I'm sorry. Yes, you have time to take a shower, but don't primp, Stokes, you're already good looking enough, ok."  
  
"Sara Sidle." He chuckled and I could tell that he had a grin on his face to go with his healthy ego.  
  
"Nick, don't let it go to your head. Get your ass out of bed and take a shower. I'll be ready in about fifteen minutes." I had to restrain my grin so I could sound firm on the phone.  
  
"Ok, ok, I'm up." I could hear him yawn and I assumed that he was stretching, trying to wake up. "See you in a bit."  
  
After I hung up the phone, I took a quick shower, or rather as quick of a shower as I could with that damn splint on my hand. I couldn't wait until I could take it off, provided my hand would stop hurting.  
  
I was not about to let Nick catch me in my robe again, and by the time he arrived, I was fully dressed, although, I'd not bothered to do much with my hair. He looked extremely tired and suddenly I felt bad for waking him up, but then I did have a lead in our case and I knew he wanted to find the bastard that had committed this crime as much as I did.  
  
I flashed him an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry I woke you up, Nick."  
  
He grinned at me and tried to stifle a yawn. "It's ok, seeing you is better than sleeping." He leaned toward me and placed a soft kiss on my lips that ended up being quite a bit longer than I think either of us anticipated.  
  
As we broke apart I think my cheeks were a little red as a smile played at my lips. I didn't want to look directly at Nick because I was afraid we could get lost in a kiss like that for quite a long time and at the moment we needed to get to work to chase down this lead. "Uh, we should go."  
  
"Uh, yeah." He cleared his throat and grinned at me.  
  
We made our way out to the Denali and climbed in. As I fastened my seatbelt I heard Nick chuckle. I turned toward him with an eyebrow raised. "What?"  
  
"You're a damn good kisser, Sar." He looked entirely pleased about that and it was all I could to do to not scoot over to his side of the front seat and plant another one on him.  
  
Instead, I grinned at him. "You're not so bad yourself." I glanced away and then started to laugh.  
  
"What?" Nick sounded less than amused at the timing of my laugh and he started the engine of the Denali.  
  
I looked over at him again. "Uh, it's just that we're a couple of grinning idiots at the moment and if we don't find a way to wipe them off of our faces before we get to work, people are going to start talking."  
  
"Is that such a bad thing?" Nick's curiosity looked genuine and I silently wondered if he took my comment as a lack of enthusiasm toward him.  
  
I smirked at him. "No, it's not a bad thing, but we have a case to work on, and as much as I'd like to kiss you right now, I really want to catch this bastard and throw his ass in prison."  
  
Nick smiled. "Ok." He turned the Denali onto the street and headed toward the lab. Nick glanced over at me as he drove. "So, what made you wake up and need to rush into the lab, Sar?"  
  
I furrowed my brow as I tried to collect my thoughts. "I kept seeing these abbreviations in Chelsea Smith's calendar and couldn't figure out what in the world they stood for. And for some reason when I woke up it just hit me. I mean, I just have stared at those entries in her calendar for hours and I couldn't make heads or tails of it, but it was under our nose the whole time."  
  
I glanced at him and could tell he wanted me to fill him in with a few more details, like the point for example. I grinned at him. "I'll just let you see what I'm talking about when we get to the lab." 


	15. Chapter 15

Nick and I sat pouring over Chelsea Smith's calendar. He looked up at me with a grin. "Sara, I think you're right. This really could be the first solid lead we've had." I was quite pleased with myself, but hoped that it did turn out to be more than just a lead. At the moment we didn't have much else and I knew we'd have to run down anything no matter how insignificant it might at first seem if we were going to find our killer.  
  
Nick and I parted ways to start making phone calls. In the next several hours I made some very interesting discoveries. First of all, I had confirmed my suspicions about the abbreviation that kept reoccurring in her calendar. LVCP occurred every Tuesday for a ten week span of time back when she had been an intern at one of the local Las Vegas Metro Police Department stations. LVCP stood for Las Vegas Citizen's Patrol. Part of the class curriculum was a demonstration of the tazer gun. More detailed information about it and about the discs that would be expelled as it was shot would have also been a part of that program. I learned that part of her duties as an intern was to help coordinate the Citizen's Patrol, and the dates that she worked as an intern coincided with when the tazer gun disappeared from the same station house.  
  
It looked very much like the evidence suggested that Chelsea Smith had stolen the tazer gun. She had opportunity to be sure, but her motive was a bit fuzzy, unless she had stolen it to defend herself against someone; perhaps the father of her baby.  
  
It still frustrated me that we didn't know who the father of her baby was. We did confirm through DNA analysis that her husband Lieutenant Smith was in fact not the father. My heart went out to this man. How he could handle that kind of betrayal was beyond me.  
  
My thoughts drifted to Nick. How he could have handled the kind of betrayal he had suffered at the hands of a babysitter when he was nine was beyond me. He was definitely a better person than I. He could forgive. I had held onto the bitterness of what Andrew had done to me, and to Lisa and their unborn child for years.  
  
I heard someone clear their throat and I glanced up. Nick stood there studying me. "You ok, Sara?"  
  
I smiled at him. "I'm just thinking."  
  
He raised an eyebrow. "About what?"  
  
"The case, Chelsea Smith, her husband, the fact that he wasn't the father of her baby, about you." I think that Nick could tell I had more than that on my mind.  
  
"You want to go get coffee or something? We've both been here for quite a while." He suggested.  
  
I looked at my watch and realized that I'd been working at the table without a break for the last four hours. I stood up and stretched. "Yeah, but let's go to Starbucks, I could use a Caramel Macchiato."  
  
We walked toward the entrance to the lab and ran into Warrick who I assumed by the suit he was wearing that he'd had to testify in court on a case. He looked at us a little curiously. "Where are you guys headed?"  
  
"Starbucks. We've both been here for several hours already." Nick answered for both of us.  
  
"Hey, could you pick me up an eggnog latte?" Warrick looked tired.  
  
I nodded. "Yeah, we will." Nick and I headed out to his Denali and drove towards Starbucks.  
  
On the way I looked over at Nick who kept glancing at me. "What?"  
  
He smiled softly at me. "Are you sure you're ok?"  
  
I let out a deep breath. "I just have a lot on my mind. I was thinking about how you are a much better person than I am."  
  
He furrowed his brow. "Sara, you are an amazing person. Don't say that I'm a better person than you. I've made a lot of mistakes. Done things that I'm not proud of."  
  
"Nick, it's just that it seems you've been able to forgive that girl who molested you, I've held onto this hate for Andrew all this time and I think it's affected who I am and why I have such a hard time trusting people." I glanced out the window and noticed we'd driven past Starbucks. I glanced back at him curiously. "Where are we going?"  
  
"Let's talk for a while; we can pick coffee up on the way back." Nick looked concerned about me.  
  
I nodded and continued. "Nick, did you know that Andrew was never even charged with a crime?"  
  
Nick looked shocked. "Why the hell not? He killed your roommate and her baby and left you for dead."  
  
A felt a tear slide down my cheek. "He took the easy way out. He killed himself."  
  
Nick pulled the Denali over to the side of the road and turned off the engine. He unfastened the seatbelt, flipped the console up, and slid over to me, putting his arms around me. "Shh. Its ok, Sara. He's never going to be able to hurt you or anyone else ever again."  
  
I pushed Nick away so I could look at him. "What did I do that I deserve to have you care about me?"  
  
Hurt flashed across his face, but it wasn't hurt for himself it was hurt for me. "Sara, you didn't have to do anything, I just do."  
  
I laid my head against his shoulder for a moment and rested in the comfort of knowing that Nick cared about me. I finally pulled out of his embrace and placed a soft kiss on his lips. "We should get coffee and head back."  
  
He smiled at me. "Ok." He leaned in and kissed me gently before scooting back over to his side of the seat. He fastened his seatbelt and started up the Denali.  
  
After we went to Starbucks to pick up some coffee, we headed back to the lab. We still had a lot of work ahead of us and I knew that we'd probably be there long after shift had ended. 


	16. Chapter 16

Nick and I got back and delivered an eggnog latte to a very grateful Warrick. We headed back to one of the layout rooms to compare notes on what we'd found while making phone calls. What Nick shared with me was startling when I compared it with what I had found out. While Chelsea Smith was an intern, she had a rather frequent visitor, a Franklin Pierce who notably was not her husband. Another interesting fact about this individual was that he was also part of the LV Citizen's Patrol that Chelsea had helped to coordinate. As Nick had done a little more research on her visitor, a few things emerged. First of all, everyone who participated in the Citizen's Patrol had undergone a background check. That in and of itself had not turned up anything, however, when Nick had run Franklin Pierce's social security number, another name had popped up. Ian Fleming. Nick and I both rolled our eyes at this one. As we dug deeper we found that this guy had quite a few aliases including Mickey Mantle, Leo Tolstoy, Clark Gable, and Walt Whitman, and had outstanding felony warrants in at least six states for a variety of crimes including rape and murder, but we couldn't locate a picture of him.  
  
A few things that we surmised from the names he had chosen was that we were dealing with a white male between 35 and 45 years of age who was fairly well read and was interested in sports and classic movies.  
  
As we sat there trying to figure out our next move, I suddenly had an idea. "Nick, don't they take a picture of the LVCP class each year?"  
  
Nick grinned at me. "They sure do."  
  
"And don't you think that someone in that class is going to be able to identify whoever this guy really is as Franklin Pierce?" I continued.  
  
Nick just nodded. "I actually already called the officer in charge and their going to send the picture over via courier."  
  
I chuckled. "Damn, we're good." I sure as hell hoped that we could track this guy down soon, because from what we'd dug up on him, he looked guilty as sin.  
  
Grissom chose that moment to pop his head into the layout room. "How's the case going?"  
  
Nick grinned at him. "We got a great lead."  
  
Grissom looked at him quizzically. "Shouldn't you be out chasing it?"  
  
Nick chuckled. "It should be here pretty soon."  
  
I just rolled my eyes at Nick and turned toward Grissom to fill him in on what we'd found. "We think we've got a potential suspect, or at the very least a guy who's got quite a few felony warrants out on him in several states and he was right under our nose as a participant in the Citizen's Patrol."  
  
Grissom looked annoyed. "Don't they do background checks?"  
  
I nodded.  
  
Nick interjected. "Apparently not as in depth as we do."  
  
Grissom glanced at him. "So I gathered."  
  
"We're just waiting to get a class photo from the coordinator so we can get visual identification on this guy so we know who we're looking for." Nick indicated.  
  
"Keep me in the loop and let me know if you need any extra help." Grissom looked away from Nick and towards me. "Uh, Sara, can I speak to you in my office for a moment?"  
  
"Sure." I think a slightly perplexed expression must have crossed my face for a moment because I could read concern flickering across Nick's face as I stood up to follow Grissom down the hall to his office.  
  
As we entered his office, Grissom gestured toward the door. "Can you close the door before you have a seat?"  
  
I nodded and wondered what was so important. I shut the door and then sat in the chair across from him. I studied him for a moment and his mannerisms didn't give much away.  
  
He glanced up at me and a serious expression broke over his face. "Sara, I'm concerned about you."  
  
I let out something between a scoff and a laugh.  
  
"I'm curious as to the reason behind your broken hand." He was pressing me, and I was not in the mood for it. I wanted to get back to my case and find the killer.  
  
"I hit Nick's dashboard. Basic physics lesson, the dashboard is a lot harder than my hand. End of story." I wanted nothing more than to get out of his office at that moment.  
  
I could hear him exhale loudly, and I glanced up to see him studying me. "Sara, I know you, and I know that you don't get rattled very easily. What's going on?"  
  
I shook my head. "Grissom, I'm fine. I was a little upset about this case, and I made the mistake of taking it out on something that didn't have an inch of give to it. I'll be fine."  
  
Grissom looked at my doubtfully. "If you need to talk, my door is open. But, Sara, if you're getting too emotionally involved in this case, I can have Catherine or Warrick work it with Nick."  
  
He certainly knew how to push my buttons at times. I wasn't going to bite. I didn't want to give him any reason to pull me off this case. I knew that Nick and I were the best CSIs for this case, not only because of our technical skill, but because we'd both been victims and had an extra motivation to leave no stone unturned. "I'm fine. I'm sure if I'm losing it, Nick will be the first one to tell me to back off the case, and he hasn't done that yet."  
  
Grissom nodded. He knew I was right in that regard and he knew that Nick had a calming effect on me that no one else did. I think that's part of the reason he had us work together so often, we balanced each other out. I wondered to myself as I headed out of Grissom's office back to the layout room if Grissom had any clue that things between Nick and I had changed. I wondered if anyone had a clue and I wondered how Nick and I were really going to handle it at work.  
  
Nick glanced up at me as I walked into the layout room. "Everything ok?"  
  
"Grissom's playing psychologist and wanted to know what was behind this." I held up my broken hand to emphasize my point.  
  
Nick raised an eyebrow at me. "You ok?"  
  
I nodded. "Yeah, I just wish he'd leave it alone. I'm fine. At least, that's all I'm willing to tell him."  
  
Nick studied me for a moment. "Everything ok between you and him?"  
  
I had to laugh a little. Nick seemed worried about Grissom finding his way back into my heart. I smiled. "Nick, he asked me out to dinner last night. I turned him down. I don't want him. I want you."  
  
A satisfied grin spread across Nick's face and a low chuckled emanated from him. "You know, a guy could take that several different ways."  
  
Judging by the warmth I felt in my cheeks, I would have bet money that they were red. I tossed a pen at Nick and he ducked as it sailed past his head and hit the wall. "Nick Stokes, get your mind back on the case; we've got work to do." It was all I could do to keep from grinning just as big as he was because at the moment, all I wanted to do was spend some quality time kissing him. 


	17. Chapter 17

"Did I miss a joke here?" Warrick walked into the layout room that Nick and I were working in and noticed that both of us were trying not to smile. "No joke here." I replied, keeping my attention on the file in front of me.  
  
Nick glanced up and chuckled. "How did the eggnog latte work out for you?" I appreciated the fact that he was subtly trying to change the subject.  
  
"Good, thanks. There's just something about testifying in court and then having to go work a crime scene, especially when some slime ball lawyer thinks he can try and get your evidence tossed out." I could tell that Warrick needed to vent.  
  
Warrick seemed to remember that he held something in his hand. "Oh, Nick, this came for you." After handing Nick the envelope, he headed back down the hallway.  
  
Nick opened the envelope and smiled. "This is it, Sar." I stood up and walked around to the other side of the table, glancing at the picture as Nick slid it out of the envelope.  
  
"Which one is he?" I studied the picture as Nick looked for any identifying information in the envelope, finally pulling out a piece of paper.  
  
He pointed at the picture. "From this it looks like that guy right there." The man Nick pointed to stood right next to our victim in the photo.  
  
"Well, we've got a face, now if we just knew what his name really is." I felt frustrated that we still hadn't gotten very far in this investigation and I knew that if we didn't make more progress soon, we'd have to shelve the case.  
  
"Crap. I don't know why I didn't think of it until now." Nick just shook his head and looked at me.  
  
"What?" I looked at him with confusion on my face.  
  
"We ran the baby's DNA against Lieutenant Smith, but did we run it through CODIS? I mean, we've tried almost everything else, and if this guy is the father and he's wanted for both rape and murder, it's possible he's already got a sample in CODIS." Nick looked excited.  
  
I grinned at him. "I could kiss you right now."  
  
Nick raised an amused eyebrow at me. "As much as I'd like to let you kiss me right now, I think I'd better take a rain check."  
  
"Count on it." I winked at him and headed out the door toward the DNA lab with him trailing behind me, hoping that Greg could help perform a miracle by finding a needle in a DNA haystack.  
  
I think Greg was becoming frustrated at Nick and I as we both kept pacing back and forth in front of him. We'd been in his lab since we'd asked him to run the check in CODIS. He finally looked up and glared. "Could you two go find something else to do, I'll page you when I'm done."  
  
I shot him a sheepish grin. "Sorry, Greggo, we're just anxious to find out if this theory pans out."  
  
Nick glanced at me with his eyebrow raised a gestured with his head. I just nodded. We both turned and headed into the hallway and I followed Nick to the parking lot toward his Denali.  
  
I climbed into the passenger seat and grinned at him as he climbed behind the wheel. "Where are we going?"  
  
"I'm just following Greg's suggestion that we find something else to do for a while. We really don't have much else to do until we get his results." Nick looked mischievous.  
  
I raised my eyebrow at him suspiciously. "So in other words, you want to go somewhere and make out."  
  
Nick feigned innocence. "If you insist, Sara."  
  
I had to try and restrain the grin that was spreading across my face as Nick drove out of the parking lot. "You know, if anyone finds out about this, we're going to catch hell." I just shook my head in amusement as Nick drove.  
  
He finally pulled the Denali into the parking lot of a deserted park and turned the engine off.  
  
He unfastened his seatbelt and reached over to flip the console up. "You know, you promised to kiss me earlier, and I'd like to collect."  
  
"Do you use that line on all your girlfriends?" I was amused at how absolutely cute Nick was when he was trying too hard to be charming. He could have thrown any cheesy line at me at that point and I would have kissed him.  
  
He shook his head and scooted over toward me. "Nope, I reserve it just for the cute ones."  
  
I still hadn't unfastened my seatbelt. Nick reached between us and unfastened it for me. His face was a fraction of an inch from mine and he was smiling, and for some reason, that made me giggle. "What?"  
  
He looked at me with a coy expression. "I believe you said you wanted to kiss me. I just thought I'd give you the opportunity to kiss me before I kissed you."  
  
I tried to restrain my smile. "Oh, I didn't realize that you kissing me was part of the deal."  
  
He chuckled and his grin widened. "It's the least I can do. It just doesn't seem fair that you get to kiss me if I can't kiss you."  
  
"Is that so?" It was all I could do to keep playing this game. The tension of anticipating this kiss was excruciatingly good.  
  
He nodded. "Uh, huh."  
  
I could feel his breath against my lips and my resolve to prolong our game wavered. I closed the distance between us and pressed my lips against his, sliding my arm with the splinted hand around his neck and splaying my other hand against his chest.  
  
Nick slid his arms around my waist and we quite literally got lost in that kiss. Breathing became secondary to exploring every part of his mouth with my tongue, and Nick returned the favor. He tasted so good and I just couldn't get enough of him. I'm not sure how much time had passed, but the shrill sound of Nick's cell phone going off interrupted the quiet in the Denali. We pulled away from each other desperately trying to catch our breaths.  
  
Nick answered his cell phone, still sounding a bit breathless. "Stokes." He looked at me with a sheepish expression. "Uh, hi, Greg. No, she's right here. Uh, we decided to run a couple of errands while we waited for you to finish running the sample through CODIS." He cleared his throat and suddenly, I don't know what possessed me, I leaned over and kissed him again as he listened to Greg. He pushed me away with an amused expression on his face. "Uh, no, that was just a little interference on the line. Yeah, we'll be back there in a few minutes. Thanks." He hung up and leaned back in to kiss me, murmuring against my lips. "Don't do that again, I think he heard you kiss me."  
  
I giggled against his lips. "So, what did he say?"  
  
Nick kissed me again before answering me. "Greg thinks he might have a match."  
  
"Really." I kissed him again. I couldn't seem to pull myself away from Nick.  
  
"Uh, huh. But we need to get back to the lab." He kissed me again. I could tell Nick didn't want to go back to the lab any more than I did.  
  
"Maybe we can continue this later." I suggested, kissing him again, hoping I sounded more convincing than I felt, because at the moment, I just wanted to stay there and continue kissing Nick.  
  
"Ok." Nick pulled away, resting his forehead against mine. "We really do need to get back." He leaned in and kissed me again.  
  
"I know." After several more kisses, I finally pulled away and leaned back in my seat.  
  
Nick scooted back over to his side of the Denali and fastened the seatbelt. He grinned at me as he started the engine. "Damn, Sara."  
  
I grinned back at him as I fastened my seatbelt. "Yeah, I know."  
  
We didn't say a word to each other as we drove back to the lab and went in search of Greg to find out what CODIS had come up with. 


	18. Chapter 18

As Nick and I walked into the DNA lab to see what Greg had come up with, the energetic lab tech grinned at us curiously. "What do you have for us, Greggo?" I really wanted to know what he had learned from CODIS.  
  
Greg chuckled and shook his head. "First I need a little information."  
  
I glanced at Nick wondering if we'd forgotten to give Greg some key item so he could process the sample through CODIS. I was certain we hadn't and Nick shrugged his shoulders at me. As I looked at Nick for that brief moment in the well lit lab, panic surged through me. Nick had a smudge of my lipstick on the edge of his mouth.  
  
He registered the panic that flashed across my face and raised his eyebrow at me with a look that showed he was wondering what the hell the problem was.  
  
Always the one to state the obvious, Greg helped Nick fill in the details. "So, I see you two must have been working on a transfer experiment while you were out running errands." Greg's expression was a little too eager.  
  
Nick wasn't picking up on my not so subtle glances and gave Greg a look akin to accusing him of smoking crack. "I'm not following you, man."  
  
Under my breath I hissed at him, smacking him on the thigh. "Shut up, Nick."  
  
He glanced at me, still not getting it. He was cute, but at times, he could be rather dim, especially it seemed when he was suffering from residual hormone overload.  
  
Greg was utterly amused at the scenario before him. "You know. Transfer. From her to you." He gestured a little too dramatically from me to Nick. "I assume that's why you've got Sara's lipstick on your mouth." Greg looked smug.  
  
Nick reached up and touched his lips as I cleared my throat and glanced at him out of the corner of my eye. Nick didn't say a word, but looked slightly embarrassed as he continued to try and rub the remainder of the lipstick off.  
  
Greg seemed to be enjoying his discovery of our secret. "So, how long has this been going on?" I could tell he wasn't going to stop until he got some answers.  
  
I glanced at Nick and I couldn't help but chuckle softly. "Uh, Nick?" He glanced at me quizzically as I reached up and wiped the rest of the lipstick off of his mouth. "You missed some."  
  
A sheepish expression crossed Nick's face as he finally realized there was no way we were going to be able to talk ourselves out of this one.  
  
Greg smirked. "That wasn't interference on the line earlier was it?" He knew he had us, and he knew we knew he had us.  
  
I think a faint blush started to creep into my cheeks and a bit of panic hit Nick as he tried to reason with Greg. "Now, Greg, no one else has to know about this."  
  
Greg raised his eyebrows and his expression spoke of bribery. "I don't know, I mean if Grissom caught wind that two of his CSIs were getting jiggy with it during company time."  
  
I decided to try and get some control of the situation, and take advantage of Greg's crush on me and try and reason with him. I'd flirt if I had to. "Greg, Nick and I weren't getting jiggy with it. First of all, we were on a break; second of all, what we do outside of the office isn't anyone else's business." I glanced at Nick who just indicated from his expression that I was doing a hell of a lot better than he was at trying to explain the situation.  
  
Greg deadpanned and raised a single eyebrow. "Don't try and tell me that you and Nicky boy here weren't making out. I know a kiss when I hear one."  
  
I could feel my lips curling up in a smile and my cheeks flushing with color. I glanced at Nick, hoping he'd throw me a life ring.  
  
Nick cleared his throat. "Ok, I'm not going to deny that we were involved in a little transfer experiment as you put it, and that what you overheard could be construed as a kiss, but if you tell anyone, Sanders, you're a dead man."  
  
Greg grinned. "Secrets will cost you."  
  
I let out an audible groan and glanced at Nick. "You make is it sound like we're sneaking around. Do you really care if anyone knows?"  
  
Nick looked at me and chuckled. "No, but this wasn't exactly how I'd envisioned telling everyone that we were dating and I do think the man has a point about making out on company time."  
  
I rolled my eyes. "And how many double shifts have we pulled lately?"  
  
"Now, Sar." Nick raised his eyebrow at me and flashed me one of those charming smiles that makes me melt.  
  
I giggled. "Ok, fine." It occurred to me that the reason we were in the DNA lab in the first place was not to be interrogated by Greg, but to find out what CODIS had come up with. I turned to Greg and narrowed my gaze. "Greg, you called us, remember? What did you find out?"  
  
Greg was suddenly all business, but I knew that this conversation was far from over. "Uh, ok, sample A, the baby, is here. CODIS came up with this. I ran it three times just to be sure. There are seven elials in common with each of them; I think you've found the baby's father."  
  
I glanced at the data sheet before handing it to Nick. "What do you think?"  
  
Nick studied it for a moment before looking at me and Greg. "What I want to know is, if they have so many DNA samples from this bastard, why doesn't someone have him in custody?"  
  
The data sheet had profiles for three of Franklin Pierce's aliases and we still didn't know his real name, but at least now we knew he was the father of Chelsea Smith's child and as such, he had motive to kill her.  
  
Nick gestured toward the hall. "I'm going to get a hold of O'Reilly and see if he can get a few uniforms to run down the participants of that Citizen's Patrol class, I think we're going to want to talk to them to see if they can give us any insight on this guy."  
  
I nodded. "Ok, looks like we're pulling another double." I let out a sigh.  
  
Nick shook his head. "We are not pulling a double. You have a doctor's appointment for your hand after shift, and I'm taking you. We can work up until then, but you also need to get some sleep, Ms. Sidle." He had that fatherly look again.  
  
I raised a single eyebrow at him in return and smirked. "Ok, but just remember, I do know how to brush my teeth."  
  
Nick chuckled. "Point taken. I'll let you know if I find out anything." He turned and left the DNA lab.  
  
I turned my attention back to Greg. "Uh, Greg."  
  
Greg smiled as he worked on another sample, not bothering to look up. "Sara, if he hurts you, let me know, I'll beat him up."  
  
I smiled. "Ok, I'll keep that in mind." I turned to leave, but then glanced back at Greg. "Thanks for getting this back so fast. I appreciate it."  
  
He glanced up and grinned. 


	19. Chapter 19

With the knowledge that Franklin Pierce, or whatever his name really was, was in fact the father of Chelsea Smith's baby, our efforts doubled to try and track him down. O'Reilly had run down all available addresses for him and had hit a dead end. We were fairly certain that this guy knew we were on to him and that he'd most likely fled the area. Of course, I've learned never to assume anything in this business, so we didn't rule out that he was just laying low seeing how things would play out.  
  
With the revelation of our relationship to Greg, both Nick and I were anxious to talk about how to tell everyone else. I mean it wasn't like we were announcing anything on par with an engagement, but a dating relationship in the midst of our team would certainly change the team dynamics and they should know about it soon.  
  
As shift was wrapping up, I headed to the locker room to gather my things and find Nick so we could head to my doctor's appointment. I really hoped that the doctor would tell me that things were healing nicely in my hand and that I'd be able to take the splint off soon. I'd only had the damn thing on a few days and I wasn't sure I'd be able to last the entire two weeks. Of course, I also didn't want to do anything to merit an actual cast on it either, so, if I put things in perspective, two weeks was a piece of cake.  
  
I entered the locker room and noticed Nick and Warrick standing there with their backs to the open door talking.  
  
"Why don't you let me set you up, man?" Warrick obviously thought Nick needed to get out more. "You haven't dated in so long that I bet your little man there is shriveling up because it's not getting any action."  
  
Nick let out a low chuckle. "Thanks for the offer, Warrick, but I think I can find a woman on my own. Besides, I'm not interested in something short term any more. I think I'm ready to settle down and you can't find that kind of a girl in a club."  
  
Warrick looked at Nick with a bit of incredulity and then noticed that I was standing in the doorway. "Uh, hey, Sara."  
  
Nick turned around and grinned at me as I walked in and I couldn't help but smile back at him. I'm pretty sure Nick knew I'd overheard their conversation. I could tell that Warrick noticed something was up by the size of Nick's grin, but he also didn't look like he was ready to ask questions. I'm glad that Nick and I hadn't planned on keeping this a secret. I can just imagine trying to keep something like that a secret from the best investigators in the country.  
  
Nick closed his locker and raised his eyebrows at me. "You ready to go to the doctor, Sar?"  
  
"Ready as I'll ever be." I nodded and rolled my eyes, then glanced at Warrick who it seemed was starting to get the picture. I smiled and glanced back at Nick raising a single eyebrow. I think that Nick was beginning to understand that Warrick was suspicious.  
  
Nick cleared his throat and glanced at his watch. "We better get going; I don't want you to be late." We left before Warrick had a chance to start asking twenty questions.  
  
As we climbed into Nick's Denali, I turned toward him and chuckled. "You know, I think he knows that something is up."  
  
Nick grinned. "I know he does, but I didn't think that was the time. Besides, you do have a doctor's appointment and I really don't want you to be late."  
  
I settled back in my seat and fastened my seatbelt as Nick pulled out of the parking lot and headed towards the doctor's office. As we drove I couldn't help but look over at Nick and smile. I wondered how it was that I'd been so preoccupied with Grissom for so long that I'd missed what a wonderful man he was. Nick had a huge heart and I felt thankful that he wanted me to be a part of his life; that he wanted to have a romantic relationship with me to see where it might go. I felt blessed.  
  
As we pulled into the parking lot of the doctor's office, Nick glanced over at me with a curious expression on his face. "You're awfully quiet."  
  
I smiled at him. "I'm just thinking about how blessed I am to have you in my life."  
  
Nick couldn't contain his smile. "I'm blessed to have you in mine, Sara." He leaned towards me and I leaned toward him to share a soft sweet kiss. His fingers caressed the side of my face as he pulled away. "We need to get that hand checked up." His grin was priceless. Nick took my good hand in his as we walked into my doctor's appointment.  
  
We didn't have long to wait and finally Dr. Mitchell made an appearance. He removed the splint and manipulated my hand to check my pain level. The pain had gone down considerably since he had first examined it in the emergency room. Dr. Mitchell smiled at me as he put the splint back on my hand. "Sara, it looks like it's healing nicely. Make an appointment for a week from today and you may get to take this thing off depending how the X- rays we take at that point look."  
  
I stopped and made an appointment before we left, and as Nick and I headed to my apartment, I realized that I was hungry. I turned toward him and chuckled. "Nick, are you hungry?"  
  
He nodded. "Now that you mention it, yeah, I am."  
  
"Well, then we'd better go somewhere, because I don't have very much food at my apartment." I realized that the last time I'd been grocery shopping had been at least a week before I had injured my hand.  
  
He raised an amused eyebrow at me. "Do you want to go out to eat, or go to the grocery store?"  
  
"I think the grocery store would be the best choice." I grinned at him. "As much as I like being with you, I don't want to be at your mercy for every meal."  
  
Shopping for food with Nick is an experience. I'm a vegetarian and the man loves his meat. Not exactly the best foundation to shop together, but I think I can work around it. I also discovered that he has a serious fondness for Twinkies, a food that I have never in my life tasted. It's a wonder he looks as buff as he does the way he eats.  
  
"Nick, what in the world is that?" I looked at him wondering if he had suddenly morphed into a little boy as he dangled a package in front of my face.  
  
He had the cutest expression on his face. "They're Twinkies, Sar. Can we get them?"  
  
I had to giggle in disbelief. "Nick do you realize the shelf life those things have?"  
  
He wrapped his arms around my waist from behind and kissed my neck. "Please."  
  
Ok, so maybe it was that I didn't want to make a scene in the store, but for the first time in my life, I bought a pack of Twinkies.  
  
The meat aisle was another story all together. I haven't eaten meat since I sat up with Grissom and watched that pig decompose. Nick on the other hand, being from Texas, loves his beef. I just looked at him and rolled my eyes. "If you think you're going to put meat in my refrigerator, then you'd better make sure I can't see through the bag."  
  
He grinned at me and stopped to pick out some FDA choice cut of meat I'm sure. By the time he caught up with me, I'd moved onto the produce section to get a nice selection of fresh vegetables. By the time we got back to my apartment with food, we were extremely hungry. I still can't believe he talked me into putting meat in my refrigerator, but I suppose if he promises to come over and cook a meatless dish for me when he eats that thing, it's the least I can do, as long as it stays in a bag I can't see through, I should be fine.  
  
After the most delectable omelets, we retired to my couch to watch a little TV. Ok, if I'm being honest, we retired to the couch and turned the TV on to have an excuse to sit close together and kiss. I may be over thirty, but I love kissing, and Nick is a damn fine kisser. When he kisses me, it's like being kissed for the first time. It just makes me giddy.  
  
I'm not sure how long we'd been sitting there, but I started to yawn and Nick pulled away with a slightly amused expression on his face. "I should go. You need your sleep."  
  
I grinned at him and pulled him in for another long kiss before I nodded my head. "Yeah, I am tired." The thought occurred to me that I didn't really want Nick to go home, but I also didn't want to rush things. I had experienced enough disappointment with both Hank and Grissom, and I didn't want to rush into a broken heart. I wanted to wait and see if Nick would tell me what he'd told Warrick; that he was ready to find someone to settle down with. I wanted to see just how serious he was about me. There would be plenty of time later to work out his 'little man' as Warrick put it.  
  
Reluctantly, we pulled ourselves off the couch and I walked Nick to the door, sneaking a few more kisses before he headed out the door to his Denali, with a promise that he'd be back before shift to make me dinner.  
  
After I closed the door behind him, I realized how truly tired I was. I managed to get my flannel pajamas on before I collapsed into my bed and fell into a deep exhausted sleep. 


	20. Chapter 20

I heard a muffled sound somewhere in the recesses of my mind. I rolled over in hopes that it would go away. Then it hit me, someone was knocking at my door. As consciousness overtook me, I realized that Nick must be standing at my door. I reluctantly pulled myself out of bed and stumbled to the front door to answer the insistent knock. When I opened the door, Nick looked like he was trying to restrain a smile at my rumpled appearance. "I woke you up."  
  
I shook my head. "I was awake." I hoped that I looked more awake than I felt.  
  
He chuckled at me as he walked in. "I woke you up."  
  
"I was going to get up." I knew that he didn't buy my story by the expression on his face.  
  
"I woke you up." He leaned over and kissed my cheek.  
  
"You said that already." I think that there was a distinct whine in my voice.  
  
Nick couldn't contain his smile. "I'm here to make dinner and I think you need to get ready for work."  
  
I raised an accusing eyebrow at him. "You don't think I look ready for work?" Even when I'm tired I can be funny. At least I'd like to think I can.  
  
Nick shook his head, holding in a smirk. "Not unless you have a profession I don't know about."  
  
I tried to stifle a chuckle and swatted at Nick. "This is not skimpy lingerie." I hardly thought my flannel pajamas could be confused with a hooker's ensemble, unless of course I lived in Alaska.  
  
Nick grinned, wrapping his arms around me and leaned in to kiss me. As he pulled away he looked into my eyes. "I wouldn't mind seeing you in skimpy lingerie, but this definitely isn't it."  
  
"Oh, so now you don't like my pajamas." I tried to sound indignant, while trying not to smile.  
  
Nick chuckled, resting his forehead against mine. "I'm not going to win here am I?"  
  
I shook my head. "No." I leaned up and kissed him, giggling against his mouth. I pulled away smiling. "I'm going to go get ready for work."  
  
"I'll make dinner." Nick grinned as he let me out of his embrace.  
  
I left him to cook and I made my way into the bathroom to take a shower. When I had returned to the kitchen dressed for work, I noticed that Nick was wearing my apron and I'm not sure what he was cooking, but it sure smelled good.  
  
He glanced up at me as I made my way into the kitchen to inspect the food. An amused smile flickered across his face. "Hungry?"  
  
I nodded. "What is this? It smells great."  
  
He chuckled at me. "You'll just have to taste it and find out."  
  
It was delicious. I think there was eggplant in there somewhere. As we ate, I thought to myself how much I liked spending time with Nick like this. Still, I didn't want to rush my thoughts about him, I couldn't afford to have another broken heart, I needed things to go slow until I knew how serious he was.  
  
I realized that we still needed to talk about how we were going to tell the rest of the team about our relationship. I watched Nick for a few moments and he finally looked up at me realizing that I was staring at him. A quizzical expression flashed across his face. "What is it? Do I have something on my face?"  
  
I shook my head and smiled. "No. I was just wondering how we were planning on telling everyone that we're dating."  
  
He grinned rather widely. "I can think of lots of ways I'd like to tell them, but something tells me that most of them might be considered indecent."  
  
I think my face turned red and I started to laugh.  
  
Nick winked at me. "Just kidding, Sara." He studied me for a moment, his expression more serious. "I could just tell them that I've fallen for you and I'm going to do whatever it takes to woo you until you fall for me."  
  
I don't think I expected him to say that. I mean, somewhere, deep down, I think I wanted to hear that from someone someday, but I didn't expect Nick to say that now. I think he made it pretty clear about how serious he was, and now I just needed to figure out how serious I was. I was quiet so long that I finally realized that Nick might be feeling a little uncomfortable. When I looked up at him, I was surprised. He didn't look scared or uncomfortable at my silence. When I looked at him, I saw the same expression I'd seen right before I'd kissed him. He adored me.  
  
A smile flickered across my face and I finally responded to his comment. "You could do that, or you could just tell them that the stubborn Sara Sidle has finally figured out what an amazing man Nick Stokes is." I took a deep breath and continued. "Nick, I care about you, a lot, but it's going to take me more time before I'm where you are."  
  
"I can wait." He smiled at me softly and reached across the table and took my hand in his, squeezing it.  
  
I chuckled nervously and glanced up at the clock. "Not to change the subject, but we're going to be late for work if we don't leave soon."  
  
Nick let go of my hand and started to gather up the dishes.  
  
I looked at him and shook my head. "Nick, we can do those later; we really need to get into work."  
  
He just raised an eyebrow at me and grinned. "Sara, it will only take a few minutes."  
  
I walked over to the door and put on my coat, standing their impatiently as he quickly did the dishes. He walked over to me and leaned in to kiss me and suddenly my impatience was forgotten.  
  
He pulled away and smiled. "It only took a few minutes, Sar."  
  
"I know. I just want to let everyone know so we don't have to have another Greg-like interrogation." I think I had a pout on my face.  
  
Nick chuckled at me and put his arm around my shoulder as we walked out to his Denali. The drive to the lab seemed extremely short and I think I realized that I was nervous about going public about dating Nick. Especially since Grissom had asked me out twice in the last couple of days and I wasn't sure how he was going to take the news. Not that I cared what he thought per se, but he was our boss and I didn't know if he would allow us to continue to work together. Still, we really needed to tell everyone.  
  
Warrick was the first one we encountered as we entered the break room. He was already sitting at the table drinking a cup of coffee and he studied us with interest as we both grabbed a cup of coffee and joined him. "How's the hand, Sara?"  
  
I smiled at him. "The doctor says it seems to be healing nicely and if the X-rays at the next exam look good, I can take this stupid splint off."  
  
"That's good news." Warrick took a sip of his coffee and glanced over at Nick. Amusement flashed across his face. "So, Nick, are you sure you won't let me set you up on a blind date?"  
  
I tried to restrain my grin as Nick shook his head and glanced at me out of the corner of his eye, winking. "I'm sure."  
  
"Because I know this really nice girl." Warrick continued.  
  
Nick chuckled. "Nice girl, huh?"  
  
Warrick nodded. "She could be your type. Why don't you let me set you up?"  
  
Nick raised an eyebrow at Warrick. "Could be my type? What exactly is that supposed to mean, and where did you meet her anyway?"  
  
"She's the friend of this girl I met at a club." Warrick replied, taking a sip of his coffee.  
  
Nick chuckled. "Sorry, not interested, man."  
  
Warrick raised an eyebrow. "You're slipping man. You need to get back out there or you're going to end up like Grissom."  
  
Nick chuckled and glanced over at me, raising both eyebrows.  
  
I decided to rescue Nick. I walked over to him and slipped my arms around his waist, tilting my head back as I grinned at him. "No he won't." Nick wrapped his arms around me as I leaned up and kissed him briefly. I glanced over at Warrick to see his reaction.  
  
Warrick's face registered shock.  
  
Trying to be as nonchalant as possible I grinned at Warrick. "I took Nick off the market a couple of days ago."  
  
Warrick's face was priceless. "Excuse me?" He looked at me with disbelief.  
  
I looked at Nick and grinned. "Nick and I are dating."  
  
Warrick looked at Nick with a curious expression.  
  
Nick just nodded. "Like the woman said, I'm currently taken, so I'll have to decline your offer to set me up on a blind date."  
  
Warrick just stared at us and began to chuckle. "I knew something was up this morning." Warrick gave me a serious look; one that I would expect from an older brother. "If he hurts you, Sidle, let me know, I'll kick his ass."  
  
I grinned at Nick. "I'll keep that in mind." 


	21. Chapter 21

"There will be no need for ass kicking." Nick glanced at Warrick before turning back to me. "I have no intention of hurting Ms. Sidle here." "Good." I giggled and then leaned up to kiss him again.  
  
"What in the hell?!" Catherine chose that moment to arrive. From the words that came out of her mouth, I surmised that she was more than a little shocked at what she saw.  
  
As Nick and I stepped apart and I glanced over toward where Catherine stood in the doorway, my suspicions were confirmed by the expression on her face. She had disbelief written all over it.  
  
Nick grinned at her widely. "Hey, Catherine."  
  
"Nick." She just shook her head and finally a wry smile began to spread across her face. "Sara." I think she was still trying to process what she'd witnessed. "When did this happen?"  
  
Nick grinned like the cat that ate the proverbial canary and slung his arm over my shoulder. "A couple of days ago."  
  
I glanced at Nick and then giggled when I realized that once again, he had traces of my lipstick on his mouth. I made a mental note to think about changing colors as I reached up to wipe it off. He glanced at me and grinned.  
  
"Have you told Grissom yet?" Catherine queried with a hint of concern.  
  
Nick looked like he was about to say something when Grissom walked into the break room. "Has who told me what?" He looked at Catherine curiously and then glanced over at Nick and I. It took him a moment to process the fact that Nick's arm was around my shoulder. There was a barely perceptible movement of Grissom's eyebrows as he looked directly at me.  
  
Nick cleared his throat and tightened his grip on my shoulders slightly. "Sara and I are dating."  
  
I tried to restrain the smile that wanted to spread across my face at Nick's protective and possessive gesture.  
  
"Oh." Grissom's expression reflected professionalism. "I trust you two will keep your personal life outside the lab."  
  
"As always." I looked directly at Grissom as I replied. I could feel Nick's thumb caressing my shoulder and I knew that he knew I was relieved that Grissom didn't seem intent on splitting us up on cases.  
  
The briefing at the beginning of shift was uneventful. Nick and I still had our case to pursue and Grissom assigned Warrick to help us. I wasn't sure if it was because things were slow, or if he wanted someone to keep an eye on us. In either case, we needed the extra help and hopefully with a fresh set of eyes on the case, we might find a new lead or catch a break we wouldn't have otherwise gotten.  
  
Warrick had finished processing the shoe print we had lifted from the crime scene and had finally narrowed down what type of shoe it had come from. They were Lucchese boots. A very expensive high end custom handmade brand of cowboy boots. No two pairs were alike because each one was custom made to fit the wearer's foot. In fact they could take up to two months to complete from the time they were ordered. We just needed to find out if any had been sold to anyone in Vegas in the last year or so. Warrick had determined that the boots were most likely fairly new, because the wear pattern indicated that the boots hadn't been worn much.  
  
The three of us began calling on every western wear store in the Vegas area. Dumb luck must have been with us, because the fourth store we went to had sold quite a few pairs in the last year and when we asked the manager if the name Franklin Pierce rang any bells, the man replied that he remembered selling him two pairs of the custom made boots, and that fact made him stand out in his mind. We showed him the class photo from the Citizen's Patrol class and he pointed right at him without being prompted.  
  
Based on the size of boot sold to our suspect and the print found at the scene, it seemed that for the first time we had something solid, they were the same size. If we could find the boots and connect them to Franklin Pierce, we could place him at the crime scene.  
  
I'm not sure if the word giddy is the right one, but we were definitely excited that the investigation seemed to still be going forward. The three of us decided to stop for something to eat on the way back to the lab and settled on the diner that was just a couple of blocks away from the lab.  
  
Warrick seemed to be studying me as he sat across the booth from Nick and I. "So what do you see in this guy anyway, Sidle."  
  
I couldn't help but grin, glancing at Nick before turning back to Warrick. "He is cute."  
  
Warrick chuckled.  
  
Nick just put his arm around my shoulder and a satisfied smile spread across his face.  
  
I rested my hand on Nick's thigh and smiled. "Seriously, though, Warrick, what's not to like? He's one of the most genuine people I know."  
  
Warrick nodded good naturedly. "Just remember, if he does anything to hurt you, I'll kick his ass."  
  
Nick raised his eyebrows in mock indignation. "What if she hurts me?"  
  
Warrick laughed. "Then you probably deserve it."  
  
I giggled and patted Nick on the chest. "Ah, poor, Nicky." I leaned up to kiss him and I could feel him smile against my lips.  
  
Warrick cleared his throat. "As special as all this is, we still have a case to work." He was clearly amused, but I could tell if we started to get too affectionate in front of him, he wouldn't be hanging out with us much.  
  
After finishing our meals we headed back to the lab and decided to try and divide and conquer. Warrick contacted the boot maker to see if any of our suspect's aliases had also made purchases. He also requested records of identical measurements, just in case when everything panned out, that someone else might have been responsible. Nick had gotten all of the credit card records of the suspect and was trying to see if any sort of pattern emerged. As for me, I went back to the other victim, Mr. Williams. I thought that if we looked a little deeper into his background we might yield something we hadn't seen before.  
  
I hadn't gotten very far into it when I noticed something. I immediately went in search of Nick. I found him in one of the layout rooms pouring over the credit card records. He looked up when I entered the room and smiled.  
  
I wasn't wearing a smile on my face, however, and his expression changed to concern. "We have a problem."  
  
He tilted his head slightly and looked at me curiously. "What is it?"  
  
"Mr. Williams was something of a connoisseur of boots. Lucchese boots in particular. And guess what size he wore?" I was beginning to feel irritated.  
  
Nick let out a deep breath. "The same size as our suspect Mr. Pierce."  
  
"Exactly." I replied.  
  
"Same foot measurement too." Warrick had come up behind me and had overheard me filling Nick in on what I had found.  
  
I glanced at Warrick and then at Nick again. "Have we tested Mr. William's DNA against our other victim or our suspect?"  
  
Both of them looked at me quizzically. Warrick was the one who asked the question. "You think that the suspect is related somehow."  
  
I nodded. "Call it a gut feeling, but I don't think that the fact their feet are exactly the same measurement is a coincidence. I have a feeling that this case is going to get a little bit stranger before it's over."  
  
Nick nodded. "Let's go get Greg to run the tests." He stood up and the three of us made our way to the DNA lab to have Greg compare the DNA of our suspect against that of our victims. 


	22. Chapter 22

I think Greg was ready to tie the three of us up as we all paced back and forth waiting for the results of the DNA comparison. He kept glancing up, at first he was amused, then his amusement gave way to annoyance. He finally let out a deep sigh, raising an eyebrow. "I'll page you."  
  
Warrick took the hint and quickly left the lab in search of something to occupy him until Greg was finished. Nick and I on the other hand continued to hover.  
  
Greg stopped what he was doing and shot us both a look. "The results aren't going to come any faster. Can't you two find some place to go make out or something?"  
  
I caught Nick chuckling as I glared at Greg. "Believe it or not, Greggo, Nick and I can refrain from making out on company time."  
  
Greg rolled his eyes. "The results still aren't going to come any faster."  
  
Nick cleared his throat. "Sar, the man's right. We can at least go over some of the other evidence while we're waiting."  
  
Begrudgingly, I followed Nick back to the layout room where every inch of table space was covered in credit card statements, crime scene photos, and other assorted evidence. It occurred to me that even if we could find a biological connection between Mr. Williams and our suspect it still wouldn't put us any closer to finding out where he was and being able to put him behind bars. Suddenly, I felt deflated. I sat down on one of the stools and rested my chin on the heel of my good hand, letting out a deep sigh.  
  
Nick glanced up at me with a curious expression. "You ok?"  
  
I looked up at him and I could feel my brows knitting together in frustration. "It doesn't matter you know. We could tie all these things together and unless we get a lucky break all our work doesn't mean squat."  
  
Nick regarded me seriously for a moment. "Sara, that's the job. We do our job as thoroughly as possible so that when he gets caught, there's enough to stick him behind bars so he can't do this to anyone else. Remember, we're the victim's last voice.  
  
"Grissom doesn't think so. It's all about evidence to him." I stared at the brace on my hand and absentmindedly flexed my hand.  
  
"Without the victim, the evidence wouldn't matter. All of these things sitting here in front of us are just things. Without the victims bringing it together to tell us a story, it's just a bunch of paper." Nick tried to reassure me, but at the moment I just felt like wallowing in pity.  
  
I glanced up at him. "I can't do it."  
  
Confusion clouded his face. "Do what?"  
  
I gestured toward the table in a sweeping motion. "This." I met his concerned gaze. "We've been working our asses off and what for? The guy is probably long gone by now. He's probably moved on to a different state and changed his name again."  
  
Nick looked concerned. "I'll be right back." He got up and quickly walked out of the layout room and down the hallway.  
  
I wasn't sure exactly where he was going, but at the moment, I didn't feel like following him. I don't think I'd ever felt so low on a case. I'd always been able to find a reason to keep pursuing the evidence, confident in my abilities and that of my teammates. This was different. I didn't think we were going to be able to solve this case and for the first time in my career, I felt completely defeated.  
  
I laid my head down on the layout table on top of my crossed arms and let out a deep sigh. I'm not sure how long I'd been there like that when a voice interrupted my thoughts.  
  
"Sara?" Catherine sounded concerned. There was a motherly tone to her voice that I didn't think I'd ever actually heard directed towards me.  
  
I lifted my head slowly and looked toward the door where she leaned against the frame. "Hey, Catherine."  
  
She lifted an eyebrow and a curious expression crossed her face. "You ok?"  
  
I nodded and rubbed my eyes. "This case is just hitting a dead end that's all."  
  
A smile played at her lips. "I heard just the opposite. Greg said you came up with another angle on things and he said everyone else was going to have to wait until your test results were done."  
  
I let out a faint chuckle. Leave it to Greg to put me at the top of his list. "I'm not very hopeful."  
  
"That doesn't sound like the Sara Sidle I know." Catherine looked a bit perplexed.  
  
I let out a deep sigh. "I guess you just can't solve them all."  
  
Now Catherine looked downright concerned. "Are you sure you're ok?"  
  
Nick chose that moment to reappear. He looked far too happy. "C'mon, Sara."  
  
I looked at him curiously. "Where are we going?" The last thing I wanted to do at that moment was to follow another lead around town.  
  
Catherine glanced at Nick and shot him some sort of expression that I couldn't quite read.  
  
"I'm taking you home." Nick stated matter of factly.  
  
"I can't go home. We have work to do." I detected a hint of a whine in my own voice and I think at that moment I realized that I was exhausted.  
  
Nick chuckled. "Work can wait. You, Ms. Sidle, need some sleep."  
  
"But shift isn't even over yet." Yes, there was definitely more than just a hint of a whine in my voice. If I hadn't been the one whining, I think I might have laughed, which is exactly what Nick did.  
  
"Sara, you're not doing yourself or anyone else any good at the moment. Don't argue with me because you're not going to win. You need some sleep." Nick sounded mildly amused, but his tone was firm enough that I knew if I insisted on protesting, he'd do something crazy like walk over and throw me over his shoulder to make sure I did go home.  
  
Catherine looked a bit bewildered. If someone else had tried to make me go home, I'm sure she would have expected World War Three to break out.  
  
I stood up and rolled my eyes at Nick, gesturing toward the table. "What about all of this?"  
  
He raised an eyebrow at me and crossed his arms in front of his body. "Warrick said he'd take care of it."  
  
I was about to open my mouth to ask about the DNA results when Nick raised his index finger to his lips as and continued.  
  
"And Greg will still call when the results are in, but the truth is, at the moment, we really don't have much else to go on, so you are going home and getting some sleep." He looked entirely too satisfied with himself.  
  
"What about Grissom?" It occurred to me that our boss wouldn't be too please with my lack of dedication to the case by skipping out early with my new boyfriend.  
  
Nick smirked as Grissom walked into the layout room.  
  
"What about me, Sara?" Grissom had a slightly amused expression on his face.  
  
I tilted my head as I looked at him. "Do you just stand in the hall until you hear someone say your name?" I'm sure I sounded annoyed, but the man certainly had strange timing.  
  
Grissom shook his head, and I could swear that a hint of a smile was about to pull the edges of his mouth up at the corners. "Nick informed me that your case is at a standstill and you appear as if you could use some sleep. I suggested that you go home and take at least part of the next shift off."  
  
I think my mouth must have been slightly agape. Was this the same Gil Grissom? And if it was, why the hell was he being so nice to me? I turned toward Nick to protest and he simply raised a single eyebrow at me. I just let out a deep breath and headed toward the door, brushing past Grissom and Catherine, who I could swear was grinning as I walked past her. Nick fell in step behind me as I headed towards the locker room to get my coat. After I shut my locker, Nick offered me his hand and we walked out of the lab with our fingers laced together, heading toward his Denali.  
  
It didn't take long to reach my apartment and as I removed my coat, Nick took it and hung it up. I just stood there staring at him, wondering what in the hell I had done to deserve someone like him. When he turned around he looked at me curiously, a smile playing at his lips. "What?"  
  
I let out a heavy sigh and pulled him into a hug. "I don't know why I deserve you."  
  
He chuckled. "I could ask myself that question you know. I don't know why I deserve you." He whispered in my ear. "Why don't you take a bubble bath or something and go to bed? You look exhausted, Sar."  
  
I knew he was right, but at that moment I didn't have the energy. I stepped out of his embrace and walked over to the couch, sinking into it and laying my head against the back. "Hang out with me for a little while."  
  
He grinned at me and sat down next to me on the couch. "How 'bout I run a bath for you and stay until it's ready?"  
  
I let out a soft chuckle. "Ok." The image of Nick preparing a bubble bath was priceless.  
  
"What about your pajamas?" He looked a little afraid all of a sudden at the thought of snooping through my dresser drawers.  
  
I couldn't help but giggle. "Top drawer on the left."  
  
He leaned over and kissed me softly before pulling himself off the couch and heading into my bedroom to find some pajamas. He returned a few minutes later with pajamas in hand. "These ok?"  
  
I nodded and giggled again.  
  
He raised an eyebrow at me and tried to restrain an embarrassed grin. "What?"  
  
I tilted my head and smirked. "Do you do this often?"  
  
He chuckled. "I do have seven nieces and nine nephews, Sar." He gestured toward the bathroom. "Do you have a preference on bubble bath?"  
  
I smirked at him. "Uh, why don't you surprise me."  
  
He grinned and then disappeared into the bathroom where I could hear the water running into my tub. He emerged a few minutes later and planted himself next to me on the couch, slinging his arm around my shoulder. We sat that way for a few minutes until Nick thought enough water had flowed into the tub. "Hey, I need to go check on your bath water."  
  
Nick got up and disappeared into the bathroom again and I heard the water shut off a few moments later. He reappeared and looked down at me smiling. "It's ready, Sar."  
  
I reluctantly pulled myself off of the couch and wrapped my arms around Nick's waist. "Thank you."  
  
He kissed the top of my head. "Any time." He pulled away and placed a soft kiss on my lips. "Call me later when you wake up." With that, he headed for the front door and I headed for the bathroom where I found a wonderful surprise. Nick had taken it upon himself to light all the candles in my bathroom, giving the room an even more relaxing feel. As I sank down into the tub, I wondered to myself what I had done to deserve such an amazing man. 


	23. Chapter 23

The bubble bath was exactly what I needed. I sat there luxuriating in the warm water, feeling my muscles relax. After the water started getting cold, I pulled myself out and dried off. I put the pajamas on the Nick had pulled out for me and blew the candles out. I decided that sleep sounded good and as I walked into my bedroom, I couldn't help but smile. Nick had turned the covers on my bed down. There was far more to him than I ever imagined and I made a mental note to explore that a little more. But after I'd gotten some rest and after I got this damn splint off of my hand. I crawled into bed and pulled the covers up. I must have fallen asleep right away because then next thing I knew I was waking up and looking at the clock. Shift had already begun and I was glad that Grissom had told me to take part of it off. I was sure that Nick was wondering if I was still sleeping so I picked up the phone and dialed his number. He answered on the first ring. "Stokes."  
  
I smiled as I greeted him. "Hey."  
  
I could hear the smile in his voice. "You just waking up?"  
  
"Yeah. Thanks for everything. I really needed that. You are too sweet." I really appreciated him.  
  
"Want me to come get you?" I could tell he wanted to know if I was still tired.  
  
"Yeah, I just need to get dressed. How's the case? I assume you're at work." If I was a betting woman, I would guess that he'd gotten there before shift had started.  
  
"Greg got the DNA results back. Your hunch was right. Franklin Pierce is really Mr. Williams' grandson. Here's the twist though. Chelsea Smith isn't related to him, at least by blood. She's adopted, and as for Franklin Pierce, his real name is Gerald Williams. We still need a lucky break though, babe. We've got the evidence; we just need to find him." Nick had been busy and I silently wondered if he hadn't gone back to work as soon as he'd left my apartment.  
  
"You've been busy." I knew I have an inquisitive tone in my voice.  
  
He chuckled. "Ok, so I came back after I left your place." He changed his tone. "You hungry? I could use a break."  
  
"Yeah. I guess I could eat." I suddenly did feel hungry.  
  
"Ok, I'll swing by somewhere and pick up something and come over. We can eat and then come back here." I heard talking in the background. "Oh, Warrick's coming too."  
  
I chuckled. "Let me guess, he's been pulling a double too."  
  
"You're good, Sidle." He was laughing.  
  
"Ok, I'll see you guys in a little while then." I hung the phone up and pulled myself out of bed. I wandered into the bathroom and took a look at myself in the mirror. I guess it would do. I wandered back into my bedroom and pulled out some black slacks and a dark red shirt that Catherine had once said she thought complimented my complexion. I had to laugh, why was I worried about looking good? Nick was in love with me. Well, maybe I wanted to look good because I wanted him to want me. I was starting to realize that there was more to life than solving crimes. Grissom had always told me that I needed to find a distraction. Well, Nick was a damn fine distraction.  
  
Before I realized how much time had gone by, I heard a knock at the door. Nick and Warrick stood there with food in hand. I opened the door wide as they entered. They set the food down and Nick walked over and wrapped his arms around me, planting a kiss on my lips. As he pulled away he grinned. "I hope you like Chinese."  
  
I grinned. "I love Chinese."  
  
Warrick just chuckled at the exchange. "I'm glad your hunch worked out, but I have to say that it's more of Nick move than a Grissom move." I caught his meaning. I could tell that he thought Nick and I together was a good idea.  
  
We sat on the couch and ate, discussing the case. Apparently, Gerald Williams had been the black sheep of the family. When he was younger, he'd been pretty close with Chelsea. The grandfather had caught Gerald trying to molest one of his younger cousins when he was 24 and that's when the running had begun. Somehow, he'd caught up with Chelsea when she'd done her internship at the police department and had seduced her. At first she didn't know who he was. We supposed that with her husband constantly at sea that she'd sought comfort where it was easily found. When she found out that she was pregnant, she went to stay with her grandfather while her husband was shipped out to Iraq. Gerald found out she was pregnant and went to see her, insisting that she get an abortion. She refused and while they were in the middle of talking, Mr. Williams had returned and recognized him for who he was. We surmised that this was when Chelsea had stolen the tazer gun and left her intern position at the police department. Gerald Williams had kept his distance until several days ago when he'd returned to kill Chelsea. We suspected that Mr. Williams was collateral damage in the whole situation and that his death might possibly be murder as well, but we weren't sure that it could be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt in a court of law.  
  
All we needed now was a break. We needed to get this guy off the street and in jail. I just hoped that it was soon.  
  
We finished our meal and headed back to the lab. The rest of the shift was painfully slow. Poor Nick was asleep on his feet and Warrick wasn't much better. Grissom finally sent us all home.  
  
Nick ended up at my apartment with me and I insisted that he just stay. I was afraid that he wouldn't be able to stay awake at the wheel of his Denali and quite frankly I was interested in seeing where things between us might go, after he'd had some sleep.  
  
The only real highlight over the next couple of days was that I was able to take the damn splint off of my hand. Have I mentioned how much I hated that thing? In any case, the doctor said I could drive again and I was glad; although I did really enjoy spending all that time with Nick. He and I talked about it and decided that we're not quite ready to have sex even though I know that we will before too much longer. I think we both just want to make sure that we're not moving things along too fast. I have a feeling that Nick is a keeper, and if that's the case, there's no need to rush things. We'll have plenty of time to enjoy each other in the future. I mean, we've been dating less than two weeks, but with all the time we've been spending together, it seems like much longer.  
  
I think it was a few days after I'd gotten the green light about taking the splint off of my hand that I got paged. We'd gotten the break we'd be waiting for. In a routine traffic stop for a broken tail light, Gerald Williams had been picked up. He had already begun to use a new identity. A real original one at that. John Glenn. They found the stolen tazer in the trunk of his car and he was sporting a pair of Lucchese boots. We obtained a DNA sample and with Greg moving it to the top of the list we were able to confirm that he was indeed the man that we were looking for.  
  
I'm feeling much more balanced these days. I don't think that with Nick around, I'm going to be able to let cases get to me as much. Not that they won't affect me, they always will, that's why I'm doing this for a living in the first place, but I have a distraction and he's very good for me.  
  
The End. 


End file.
